Ski Trip
by Hime no Ichigo
Summary: [CHAPTER 9 UP] [Yaoi YYxY, BxR, SxJ, MxM & Téa bashing!] The YuGiOh cast go on a winter sport trip for one whole week. What happens when the yamis try out skiing and others...? Read and you'll find out! R&R Please! Ideas welcome!
1. Chapter 1: We're Going to Horseshoe Vall...

Princess Strawberry: Konnichiwa, minna-san! (Hello, everybody / everyone! -Forgot which is which...-.-;;) This fic was inspired by me...oh, that sounds so dumb -.-;;; Anyways, it was inspired when my relatives and I went to Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort to do winter sports on Boxing Day. And I thought it was an excellent opportunity to do a fic on this, since it is winter and it should be a very fun holiday!

Yami Strawberry: Yes. Did anyone - meaning you, reviewers - go skiing this year? I mean, this would look pretty stupid if only we know how... no offense to anyone that does know.

Yugi: You know what is really funny? Yami fell on the bunny hill when he first tried skiing! *giggles*

Yami: *pouts* Hey, you fell too when it was your first time.

Princess Strawberry: Please direct your attention to me...as for them, just pretend they aren't here. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any characters I use in here, I do not own Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort - and the interior design will be different from the real thing anyways. Yes I know, Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort does not exist in Japan, but I am using the one that is here, so bare with me, people! There would be Yami/Yugi, Ryou/Bakura, and a teeny-weeny bit of Seto/Jou fluff. And I won't forget everyone's - well, almost everyone (excluding those that like this character) - favourite thing. TÉA BASHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

~*~ "Speaking"

'Thinking'

/Yugi speaking telepathically to Yami/

//Yami speaking telepathically to Yugi//

\Ryou speaking telepathically to Bakura\

\\ Bakura speaking telepathically to Ryou\\

*___________'s Point of View*

~~~~~~~Time / Scene Change or Warnings...(whatever)...~~~~~~~

((Us interrupting you for a few seconds))

And on with the fic!

Ski Trip

Chapter 1: We're Going to Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort!

It was seven o'clock on a Monday morning. In front of Domino High School was a group of students - approximately sixty people plus six adult supervisors - all bundled up in ski clothings. Some had ski equipment in their hands, and some had snowboards. Everyone had either a backpack slung over thir back, or a suitcase standing beside them. All were looking anxious as they waited for the coach to arrive.

A boy sprinted up towards the group, his tri-coloured hair and blonde bangs flying all wildly behind him. Right behind him was a replica of the running boy, whose face was flushed due to the harsh winter winds and because he had been running for four blocks straight non-stop.

"Hey, Yug'! Hurry up or you will miss the ride!" a blond boy with a Brooklyn accent called out from the crowd.

Yugi, the said boy, waved towards his friends. There was Joey grinning, clad in a red jacket and red snowpants. These colours really brought out his hair. A snowboard propped against his right side. Tristan stood on the left of his best buddy (Joey) and he was grinning too. Dressed in a yellow coat, and murky-green snowpants. Too typical of Tristan. Next to him stood Téa, with a pink jacket and magenta snowpants. ((Me: What does she think this is? Valentine's Day? For heaven's sake, it's winter! More importantly, it is CHRISTMAS! No offense to Mai please.)) Ryou and Bakura were dressed in identical clothings - a white winter coat and light blue snowpants. Bakura looked a bit pleased and pained in that snowsuit. Mai stood behind Joey, her whole purple winter outfit brought out the colour of her eyes. Duke was beside her, dressed in an all green snowsuit. Seto was in his usual colour, except that the clothings he is wearing right now is winter clothes. Yup, it's navy blue. Panting beside Joey, Yugi put one hand on his dark blue snowpants, trying to regain his breath. His light blue jacket was a little out of place. Yami was doing almost the exact same thing, except that his entire outfit is black and it hugged his body more tightly than Yugi's. ((Me and Yugi: *drool*)) Which is something Téa noticed instantly, and she went all ga-ga over it.

"All right, skiers and snowboarders. Listen up!" one of the adult supervisors yelled, gaining everyone's attention. "You all know we are going to Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort for a whole week. Did everyone bring enough clothes to change and other essential equipments?"

"Yes," the group chorused loudly.

The supervisor nodded approvingly. "Good. The coach will be here in fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, let's settle some ground rules. First, once we get there, nobody moves until the manager of the ski resort finishes telling you your daily routines. Second, wake up times are at seven thirty ,and bedtimes are at eleven o'clock sharp. No exceptions made. Third, two people share a room - and there is only one bed. Please try not to fuss and shout in the rooms - the rooms are not soundproof. Make yourself comfortable as soon as possible, then meet the rest of us in the front hall. Understand?" she paused, gasping for breath. The group nodded. 

"Okay. Now, when the coach arrives, those who brought their own winter sport equipment please put it where the driver tells you to. Don't fool around. There would be coin laundries there, and if you need to go skiing or snowboarding or tubing everyday, you will need new lift tickets for each new day. That applies for all of you," she ordered sternly, her steely eyes gazing at Joey and Tristan. Figures, they are always the troublemakers. "And your sitting partners on the coach would be the one you are sharing your room with. When I call your name, please come up and stay in that order. Go straight to the back if you are the first pair I call. Start the second row if you are the second pair," she illustrated the diagram in the air to show everyone. "Okay? All right, here are the names:" she cleared her throat and rattled on," Ryou Bakura and Bakura, Yugi Motou and Yami Motou, Tristan Taylor and Téa Gardner, Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba, Duke Develin and Mai Valentine..." the rest of the names were called out as the coach drove up. "Decide amongst your partners who sits in which seat."

When the supervisor had called out that Yugi and Yami would be sitting together and would be sharing a room, their face turned crimson red. They hadn't been expecting this. And there was only ONE bed!!!!

~Let's hear the other's thoughts....

Seto: I'm sharing a room with the puppy!? That's an outrage....I REFUSE TO!!!!!! *steam comes out of his head*

Joey: O.o Oh no....I hav to endure with moneybags with a whole week!? Uh uh no way...I am going to ask the teacher to change it before we leave the school!

Ryou and Bakura: Sweet!

Tristan: *falls down and twitches* This is a nightmare. It can not be truly happening!! I have to share a room with Téa, the most annoying girl in the world! No, strike that, it's the whole universe!!! I am so gonna die this week....

Téa: Unh man! I wanted to be Yami's partner...not Tristan's! This totally sucks! *pouts* ((Me & Yugi: Ahhhhhh! It's the monster coming alive! GROSS!!!))

Mai: Um...That doesn't sound so bad....does it? ?____?

Duke: I.Don't.Like.Girls.And.I.Have.To.Share.A.Room.With.One. Oh.No. This is so going to be the worst week of my life!

~End of Thoughts~

All of the people boarded the coach and put all their backpacks / suitcases on the racks at the front. Yugi quickly scampered to the back of the vehicle.

/I call window seat!/

//Is there any difference?//

/Um...no. But you get to look at the scenery along the way!/

Yami chuckled over Yugi's antics. //All right.// He finally made it to his seat thanks to the detour Téa created for him. Yugi hugged him hard around the waist and squealed "Thank you!" while Téa looked on jealously. Ryou and Bakura seemed pleased with that childish gesture.

'Maybe they will actually confess to each other during this trip,' they both thought as the coach left for the highway.

~ To be Continued ~

Authoress' Notes:

Princess Strawberry: Well.........................................? How was it?I read a Mai/Duke pairing fic before, but I am not really sure about the Mai/Duke pairing, but if anyone appreciates them, let me know when you review. And is that how you spell Duke's last name? Develin? 

Yugi: Please read and review!

Princess Strawberry: Oh, and if you would be all so kind, state in your review to give me some Japanese names, or else I would have to use to ones from Cardcaptors and other animés. Thanks!

~Ja


	2. Chapter 2: Upon Arrival

Princess Strawberry: Umm...not bad. 18 reviews for a single chapter. Thank you to reviewers who supplied me with some Japanese names. I just suck at those stuff. And I got two more people who put me on their "Favourite Authors" list! Special thanks to GokuVegeta447 and Fire-Phoenix. *bows* And sorry, Prissy, I kind of forgot about the presents you gave us, so I'll do it here. Okay? So, let's see...*pulls out bag* For me and Yugi, we got a book on "How to Control a Hyperactive Yami" and a bottle of aspirin in case it gets even worse. Umm..how very thoughtful of you. Thank you!

Yugi: Yup! Thanks!

Princess Strawberry: Wait, that isn't it! She also gave us a safe with a combination that we only know to store all our candies and snacks. Way cool!

Yugi: Sweet!

Yami Strawberry: Did we get anything?

Princess Strawberry: I am even surprised you did. Prissy gave you and Yami a book on modern day technology so you two won't screw up my computer, my television, or any of the electronic appliances at home.

Yami: *rolls eyes* That was so generous of her.

Yugi: Hey, be nice! *gropes in bag* There is another item in her. *reads label* Oh, yeah! She gave ALL of us a can of anti-Tea/Anzu spray. *frowns* But it's only valid for one chapter only. Pooh.

Princess Strawberry: It's okay. At least we have four. 

Yugi: Good point. 

Princess Strawberry: Yami, we are starting the story. Why don't you be a good girl and come here and do the disclaimer for us?

Yami Strawberry: *sighs* Bossy. My aibou does not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any characters she uses in this story. She still does not own Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort. As you know from the previous chapter, there will be Yami/Yugi fluff, Ryou/Bakura fluff, and a bit of Seto/Joey fluff since my aibou has not written anything about those two yet. Is that all now?

Princess Strawberry: Thank you! You're so kind!

~*~ "Speaking"

'Thinking'

/Yugi speaking telepathically to Yami/

//Yami speaking telepathically to Yugi//

\Ryou speaking telepathically to Bakura\

\\ Bakura speaking telepathically to Ryou\\

*_______________'s Point of View*

~~~~~~~~ Time / Scene Change or Warnings...(whatever) ~~~~~~~~

((Us interuupting you for a little bit))

Ski Trip

Chapter 2: Upon Arrival

Once the coach turned on the highway, the students inside it erupted into noise and chaos. Only the ten people in the back remained quieter. Up in front, the supervisors were trying to calm the teens down to no good result. Yugi held his head in frustration as the noise level crept up even more. 'Ungh, please make them stop!' he thought desperately. 'Wait, I forgot! I have my MD-player with me! I can listen to music instead of them!' And with that, he pulled out his MD-player and a set of earphones. Yami saw his light's movements and turned his head to face him.

"What are you doing, aibou?" Yami asked curiously, leaning forward to get a better view of the piece of technology in his hikari's hands.

Yugi turned his head to face Yami's, resulting in having very close distance between their faces. Pink streaks appeared in Yugi's cheeks, and mumbled something. Yami leaned in even further to catch the words "It's a MD-player."

"Oh."

"You want to hear music, too?" Yugi offered, being the nice, generous young man. Yami nodded and Yugi handed over the left earpiece. "Here."

The song on was Japanese, which Yami still hasn't gotten the hang of yet. Yami glanced across the aisle as Yugi shifted his gaze back towards the window. The ancient spirit of the puzzle saw Bakura going to same thing, except that Ryou's piece of electronic equipment was much bigger than his hikari's.

"For the nineteenth time, Bakura, it's called a CD-player!" Yami heard Ryou exclaim exasperatedly. He sniggered at Bakura's offended look.

"Well, sorry! I can't keep up with modern technology so if you have a problem with that, just deal with it!" Bakura retorted back heatedly.

Up in front, Tristan's pointy hair and Tea's unmistakably horrid brown hair poked up from the head rests of the seats. Yami heard Tristan keep mumbling about how fate was so cruel to him. Directly in front of Ryou and Bakura sat Joey and Kaiba. Yami wasn't surprised when another of their heated arguments about calling each other names broke out again. Everytime they started a sentence, it would begin with either "puppy dog" from Kaiba, and "money bags" from Joey. Yami sighed. Those two will never change. And he meant never. He crept up from his seat a little bit to get a better look at the pair sitting in front of Tea and Tristan. They were quiet, but occasionally Duke would start taunting Mai about how she sucks at Duel Monsters. Mai growled, and retorted back. They went on bickering, but it never lasts long. Two minutes later it would break up and they would go back to their quiet mood, as if nothing had happened. Yami settled back into his seat comfortably and paid more attention to the music. Or should I say his heavenly angel that was sitting beside him, looking at the scenery intently. His elbow was on the arm rest and his chin was propped up by his palm. Yami wondered how he got such a sweet and gentle hikari when he was such a dark soul. Perhaps it was because Yami just gasped then, because Yugi turned around with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Is something wrong, Yami?" Yugi inquired. Yami shook his head. Yugi seemed relieved, because he turned back towards the window. 

Forty-five minutes later, the bus came to a halt in front of the building. Yami stole a peek out of the window above his hikari's head. His eyes widened. Never in his life has he seen so much snow! For yards and yards laid pure white snow, undamaged by any skiers, snowboarders, or snowmobilers. So much like his aibou, so pure and delicate.

"Could all of you stay in your seats until the manager of the ski resort comes on the bus?" Mr. Yuusuke yelled down the bus so everyone could hear him. The students stilled their movements and waited impatiently. Presently a man about six feet two came on the bus, wearing a red jacket that read "Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort" along with a name tag on his left chest. The sun caught the piece of metal, and it shone directly at Yugi's face. Yugi shrunk down from his seat at the temporary blindness.

"Welcome to Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort, Domino students!" he boomed. "My name is Mr. Kuwabara. You can call me 'Kuwa' for short if you like. Anyways, I am sure your teachers have explained the rules and other important things before you got on the coach. But just in case that they didn't cover some of it, I will go over it again. Don't mind the old man." He joked. He cleared his throat and began.

"First of all, there would be no skiing done today, as you will be getting familiar with the grounds of the resort. Each of you has been assigned with a partner, and you will share that room with him or her. I have already given your teachers the room numbers, and since you will be the only school who is visiting Horseshoe Valley this week, gather around the main hall, or the front door you will be going through here," he pointed to two sets of double doors. "When you are done unpacking. Please finish unpacking as soon as possible. See you all later!" he winked and stepped out of the coach.

The students stood up, all very eager to see the inside of Horseshoe Valley, and all the equipments they have inside. Eventually, everybody got off the bus, and were being grouped, each group guided by a teacher.

Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Bakura, Tea, Tristan, Joey, Seto, Duke, and Mai were grouped into one, guided by Mrs. Keiko. "Follow me please. By your room sharing partners." she requested.

Except for Yugi and Yami, everybody got the second floor rooms. Mrs. Keiko led the yami and hikari to the third floor, where the teachers are also staying. Yami looked confused as they were being separated from their friends.

//Aibou, you have any idea why we are on a different floor than our friends?//

/You will see soon enough./

Mrs. Keiko gave them their room key and whispered to Yugi, "Thanks for volunteering. Here's the room." She walked away to arrange the other students. Yugi smiled and called out a good-bye to her, then turned towards Yami. He handed the key over to his dark silently, sending a quiet message that he should open the door. Yami did so, and when he had fully opened it, he gasped in amazement.

He had seen the others' rooms, and theirs were twice smaller than theirs! There was a balcony with a set of sliding windows separating that from the inside of the room. On the left was a desk and a walk-in closet, big enough to fit fifteen people inside. On the right was a king-sized bed, littered with crimson and gold blankets. White, fluffy pillows covered the front and end of the bed. This room was magnificent! But there was still a question nagging at Yami's mind. Why did they get this room? He turned to his hikari, looking at him curiously, silently begging him to explain.

Yugi took the hint and said, "I promised Keiko-sensai I would help out at Horseshoe Valley if anyone was sick or is unable to attend something. Don't worry, I would still go on the ski slopes." He added hastily as he caught Yami's uneasy look. "Let's unpack now, shall we?" Yugi nodded to their suitcases and backpacks at the door. Yami's jaw dropped open. 

"How did you bring all that stuff here?" he asked, feeling extremely amazed.

"Keiko-sensai offered to drive her van to bring this," Yugi confessed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand.

"Oh." Yami moved forward swiftly and picked up everything. They both started unpacking and was done within thirty minutes, even though occasionally an argument would break out as to where some things go. They grinned and headed to the main hall.

~~~~~~~~ At Bakura and Ryou's room ~~~~~~~~

"Come on Bakura! Don't be such a lazy bum and help me unpack!" Ryou called as he struggled with his suitcase just to get it over to the closet. Bakura simply smirked while he laid sprawled out on the bed. 

"Fine." And of course, the whole process was done in twenty minutes.

"See? Told you. Use your time wisely!" Ryou said as he bounced down the hall towards the main hall with his yami trudging behind him, grumbling.

~~~~~~~~ At Seto and Joey's room ~~~~~~~~

"This is an outrage! As a person who have a ton of cash, I just have to be stuck in a SMALL room with a PUPPY DOG!" Take a guess at who it is. Yup. Seto Kaiba, the millionaire. You know, the CEO of Kaiba Corp. ? 

Joey growled. "Deal with it, money bags! You think I like this any better than you!? Well, the answer is NO, so if you don't mind, you can grieve for this all you want while I unpack my stuff." he turned to pick up his stuff. "Oh, and one more thing. DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF, YOU HEAR ME!? I HAVE A RIGHT IN THIS ROOM TOO!"

"Like hell I want to?" Seto mumbled to himself as he too unpacked his stuff. Needless to say they were the last pair to be down at the main hall....by the rate they are going.

~~~~~~~~ At Tristan and Tea's room ~~~~~~~~ ((All: *pukes*))

No words were spoken as Tristan and Tea moved about the room, setting up their stuff. However, many thoughts ran through their minds as they did their task.

'Oh my God. How can you do this to me!? Stuck in a room with Taa for an entire week!? I swear, I will go insane by the end of this trip!'

'Why of all people do I have to be in a room with _Tristan_? It should have been Yami. But no...he is with his pathetic hikari in who-knows-which-floor.'

((Me: *roars* EXCUSE ME!? Look who is talking! Pathetic? Yeah, right! You are applying that word to yourself, right?)) 

~~~~~~~~ At Duke and Mai's room ~~~~~~~~

They don't speak a lot to each other either, but they would bicker every now and then. Surprisingly, they were done in fifteen minutes, and with no words shared, they locked the door and headed to the main hall.

~~~~~~~~ At the Main Hall ~~~~~~~~

Everybody gathered around. Mr. Kuwabara was just explaining about the rental shop when Joey and Seto ran down the stairs yelling at each other. The manager of the resort looked momentarily annoyed, but went on explaining nonetheless. 

"As I was saying," he continued. "This is the rental shop, and if you don't have your own skis, snowboards, boots, or poles, you are more than welcome to take it out here. Just remember that all rentals must be back before five o'clock. Got that? Good. Moving on." 

The huge group of students filed through the doors to each destination, and needless to say it was until two thirty before the whole tour was over. They filed back to the dining hall and ate some snacks there. 

"As for today," Mr. Kuwabara told them. "You are welcome to have access to the arcade room, since you won't be allowed on the slopes today." The words had hardly left his mouth when all the students zoomed out of the room to get a good game. The only ones left were the Yu-Gi-Oh cast. (The ones we see on TV) "Don't you want to play games too?" the manager asked, feeling dumbfounded.

They shook their head. "We want to arrange our rooms better so we don't have to rush it tonight." Yugi spoke for his friends. The manager nodded his head to show he understood. 

"All right."

~ To be Continued ~

Authoress' Notes:

Princess Strawberry: That wasn't really exciting now, was it? But come on. They just got settled. I promise to have more "action" in the next chapter! And more Tea bashing! And more yaoi fluff!

Yami Strawberry: Ever notice something? She says this stuff, but she never does it.

Princess Strawberry: *pouts* I do too. I'm just too busy! By the way, I went skiing today! It was so fun!

Yugi: . Aren't you going for the next two weeks as well?

Princess Strawberry: Yup.

Yami: Oh joy. Please read and review!


	3. Chapter 3: Unexpected Company

Princess Strawberry: Yippee! 40 reviews! Almost a double of my first chapter's result. Love all of ya! And thank you to DragonBow and NT for putting me on their "Favourite Authors" list. I'm so happy! ^____^ Was anybody really bothered with the font I had for the previous chapter? If you were, I'm so sorry! I didn't know that it would come out as Comic Sans MS. Gomen, minna-san! *goes teary-eyed and bows vigorously*

Yami Strawberry: Yeah, whatever. Now can we start?

Princess Strawberry: Fine. Yugi, go say the disclaimer or else I'll take away your hair gel.

Yami: O____O NO!! Aibou, do what she says! I need the hair gel!

Yugi: But you have me. *bottom lip quivers* You don't love me anymore?

Princess Strawberry: ^_____^ I love authoress power. *coughs* But do you mind sticking to the topic? You two don't know how each other feels. 

Yugi: *sighs* Princess Strawberry will never own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters, if she did then she'll turn it into a yaoi show and banish Tea from the universe. Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort is not owned by her either. There will be Yami/Yugi, Ryou/Bakura, Seto/Joey, and possibly Malik/Marik fluff. Tea bashing as well. She'll take all you reviewers' suggestions on how to torture Tea, 'k? Let the story commence!

~*~ "Speaking"

'Thinking'

/Yugi speaking telepathically to Yami/

//Yami speaking telepathically to Yugi//

\Ryou speaking telepathically to Bakura\

\\ Bakura speaking telepathically to Ryou\\

*________'s Point of View*

~~~~~~~ Time / Scene Change or Warnings....(whatever) ~~~~~~~

((Us interrupting you for a few seconds))

Ski Trip

Chapter 3: Unexpected Company

"Hey, aibou," Yami exclaimed exasperately as he tried to stand up the blasted alarm clock for the tenth time. He was ready to send it to the Shadow Realm, if Yugi hadn't stopped him. "This thing won't stay." Yugi's head emerged from a pile of clothing in the closet, laughing. Yami pouted, giving him an adorable expression ad nmaking Yugi change to a fit of giggles, abandoning his laughter.

"Here, let me," Yugi said, after calming his nerves. His hand reached forward for the alarm clock, but tripped headlong towards the table dresser by a stray sock. He cried out involuntarily and squeezed his beautiful violet eyes shut, awaiting for the deadly blow...that never came. Good thing Yami's got good reflexes, because he caught Yugi by the waist just in time. He could swear to the gods that his heart rate had sped up tremendously when they made contact. Yugi felt heat rushing to his face. Surely Yami would notice it, but he didn't. Yami was busy forcing down his own blush. Yami reluctantly detached himself from his unspoken lover and woke Yugi from his trance. They both looked at each other and laughed awkardly.

"Err..." Yugi laughed nervously. "hey, looks like the alarm clock is finally standing!" he relieved the both of them of the weird moment.

"Yeah," his darker half replied in a what he thought was a casual tone. "Are you done with the closet yet?"

Yugi shook his head. "I kind of need a little help. I wish I was a little taller." He frowned.

Yami chuckled. "Now it's my turn to help you.." They both moved towards the walk-in closet. ON the way, he accidentally knocked on the wall, creating a "dent" in it. He watched in a mix of confusion, horror, and fascination, Yugi snickered while looking on in amusement, as the wall rumbled loudly. Surprisingly no one in the hall who walked by heard anything, even though Yami swore to Anubis on his life that the sound was making him go deaf. The thundering noise stopped as abruptly as it had started. Yami's jaw dropped wide open. Yugi giggled at the priceless expression on the spirit's face.

The "dent" disappeared only to reveal another door. Curious yet cautious, Yami stepped towards it hesitantly. Yugi was grinning from ear to ear. Sure, he knew all the stuff in this room, after all, Keiko-sensai had shown him everything. He gave a mischievious grin and pushed Yami hard on the back. Yami cried out, pushing the door. It creaked open, sounding as if it has not been used for a LONG time.

'Man, this thing definitely needs some oiling.' Yami thought as he tried to block out the sound.

The oak door opened, and revealed a delicately designed bathroom. The wall tiles were white, giving off a bright and warm glow. The floor tiles were light purple coloured. The sink and the cupboard were red purple and blue purple. Two mirrors were cleverly "concealed", as Yami discovered a little later. One was above the sink, and only showed your image from the head to your chest. The other one gives you the whole view of your body. The bath tub had a rare shade of purple coating. The shower curtains were dull yellow, making them oddly bright against the purple shade. Another closet was in there, concealing a four-drawer dresser, and several substitutes of shampoo, conditioner, body soap, hand soap, towels, face and body crean, and medical treatments like bandages and gauze dressings. Overall, it just looks fantastic.

((Me: I've always wanted all of those things. Especially a room like that. But I'm not allowed. *pouts* It's not fair.

Yami Strawberry: So she decided to have her imagination do this in her story. But if she was allowed, she's more of a spoiled brat than now.

Me: HEY!))

Yami turned around sharply as the scraping of bags reached his ears. Yugi was dragging a wheely suitcase. The case plopped down and popped open. Towels, toothbrushes, a tube of toothpaste, and other bathroom needs spilled out in a hurry. The holder of the Millennium Puzzle immediately set to work in setting it all up. Yami followed suit. But not without asking a question first.

"Is every room like this?" 

"No; in fact, ours is the only one like this. The others have to share their bathroom. We're just really lucky we don't have to."

Yami nodded and continued to stack up the towels, bumping his head against the mirror during the process.

~~~~~~~ At Ryou and Bakura's Room ~~~~~~~ 

The room was tidy. So spotless clean that it gives you the impression of that no one lives here. But if you listen more closely, you can hear giggling, growling, and moaning. I'm not going to tell you what though. That's up to your imagination to fill in the gaps...

~~~~~~~ At Seto and Joey's Room ~~~~~~~

There's really not much to say about this, except there's a heated argument going on right now.

"Watch where you're going, chihuahua!" Seto yelled as he bumped into Joey. The were putting their belongings in the proper places, but the other always contradict them.

"Well, den stop takin' up so much space! I know yer used to livin' in a big house and hav servants clean up yer place, but yer stuck with me fer a week, so deal with it!" Joey exploded, finally losing it. 

Seto was just stunned, however, that would be an understatement. 

The two continued their work in silence afterwards....

~~~~~~~ At Duke and Mai's Room ~~~~~~~

The two were exhausted. They had spent at least an hour and a half putting up their stuff. They were sprawled on the ground in silence, until Mai decided to break it.

"Hey, Duke?" she questioned.

"Yeah?" he turned his head slightly, eyebrow raised, and looked at Mai in confusion.

Mai blushed slightly. "Um...since there's nothing to do right now, could you show me the game you invented? I heard that it is pretty interesting, and I'll like to learn it. Just playing Duel Monsters can get tiring for a while."

Duke nodded, agreeing that there's nothing to do. So he got out a box. It rattled with the numerous amount of die in them. He took each of them out one by one, explaining. Then came the explanation of the game rules itself. His voice droned on and on....

~~~~~~~ At Tea and Tristan's Room ~~~~~~~

The place was in complete disarray. Clothes were strewn all over the place, bottles of shampoo and cream and lotion were littered on the ground. To put it plainly, this was just _messy_. Shouts and insults were thrown around the room by two extremely loud noises. Finally, the door could be heard being slammed shout, footsteps stomping down the hall angrily. The one that remained inside plopped down on the bed heavily and sighed.

'Why couldn't Yami be my roommate? He's way better than Tristan...'

~~~~~~~ Back to Yugi and Yami's Room ~~~~~~~

Yugi stretched. So did Yami. Tired, to put it plainly. The ground was fluffy with the carpet, and they felt like they were in heaven.

((Me: Oh, is that the _only_ reason why you feel you're in heaven? *wink wink* 

Yugi & Yami: Strawberry-san! *blushes*))

The two had barely closed their eyes for some well-deserved sleep when the speaker flared with life. Yami jumped at the sudden sound, cursing in Egyptian. Yugi giggled at his darker half. He could be so hilarious at times! 

"Calm down, Yami," Yugi soothed him. "It's just Keiko-sensai over the speakers."

Yami followed Yugi's order and what do you know, it did work! Not much of a miracle, I know, but for a yami, it's a great accomplishment.

"Would the students of Domino High please rejoin in the dining hall please. I repeat, students from Domino High please rejoin in the hall. NOW." The voice died down, leaving static running through the building. Shuffling of feet were heard as they filed out of their rooms, or the arcade room.

Everyone assembled there and waited impatiently for the teacher. Nobody noticed the clock. It was now seven o'clock. The manager, Mr. Kuwabara, shouted over the thick noise. 

"People, we are starting dinner right now, so could you please grab a seat?" 

The scraping of metal screeched across the tiled floor and everybody sat down, tired of standing for just five minutes. Trays of food swiftly appeared and were placed in front of them. Of course, you could guess that Joey and Tristan were the first ones to gobble them up. In no time at all, I think it was twenty minutes, the plates were clean to the very last crumb.

((Me: Let's just skip the dinner and go on, shall we? Too boring in my words...))

The students stumbled back to their rooms tiredly. They didn't even bother changing their clothes and flopped on to the bed. Too exhausted to move even a muscle any more.

All except for five people. You name them: Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Bakura, and...Tea... 

They changed into their pajamas ((Me: Is that how you spell it? I'm so confused...@_@)) and climbed into their beds. 

Yugi and Yami: Still blushing at the fact they are sharing a bed, but slept peacefully nonetheless.

Ryou and Bakura: Doesn't mind at all that they need to sleep together. However, they still slept because they have a big day tomorrow.

Tea: Still grumbling about the fact that she couldn't have Yami as her roommate...

((Me: Yes, I know I'm lazy...but I don't want to write all the description.))

~~~~~~~ The next morning... ~~~~~~~

Yami yawned and blinked. Yugi was still sleeping peacefully beside him, a serene smile playing on his face. But not for long. The thundering footsteps of the students awoke Yugi and he bolted upright in the bed. He sighed in relief when he realized it was just the others. The door swung wide open and eight blurred images came charging in. The light and dark both blinked. Oh. 

"Come on, Yugi! We hit the slopes today!" Ryou exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down. Bakura tried to restrain him from this behaviour, but was unsuccessful.

Everyone was clad in there winter outfits, all ready to go. 

"All right," Yami mumbled and got out of bed. He went to the closet and took out two identical outfits. Anyone who pays really close attention to Tea - not that anyone does for real - will notice that she had started drooling AGAIN. "Shoo." Yami waved his hand and closed the door. A sigh escaped his mouth. 'Man, that girl will NEVER change...' Of course, that refers to Tea.

Twenty minutes the two tri-coloured boys emerged from their rooms and entered the rental shop. Everyone got their boots, but of course, the yamis and the girly-girl Tea had a lot of trouble buckling the lock at the back of the boots. The lights helped their yamis, and were all ready except Tea. They shrugged their shoulders and lined up for their skis.

"Hey, you guys! A little help would help!" Tea shouted, trying to attract their attention. They just ignored her and continued to line up.

All nine of them snapped their mitts, hats and scarves on. They looked like fat chubby pumpkins if you don't count the colour of their clothes. They were heading out the door and down the stairs with difficulty, boots clunking on the wood as they stepped down clumsily. The were suddenly halted by two figures up front.

"Malik? Marik?" they all chorused in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

~ To be Continued ~

Authoress' Notes:

Princess Strawberry: All right. I didn't keep my promise, but still, please review! I swear to God on my live that I will add more action, adventure, fluff, and all the stuff you want!


	4. Chapter 4: Ski Slopes, Here We Come!

Princess Strawberry: 60 reviews and I'm on another six authors '(or authoresses') "Favourite Authors" list! Thank you to Kayla Mutou, Buka2000, Fire-Angel, Utsukushii Hen na, Brit-chan, and Vegeta-Gohanluvr28! I feel so loved!! *glomps reviewers*

Yami Strawberry: ...Right. Well, everyone likes this story so very much, so we are going to finish this chapter as soon as we can. But you know, the lemon my hikari was planning will have to be put on hold, because her family members keep bugging in and she knows that her parents would never let her write those kinds of stuff, so please be patient and don't flame her!

Yugi: Strawberry-san does not own Yu-Gi-Oh, any of its characters, Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort, or anything else. Not even that manager dude. All she owns is the plot because she went on ski trips and came up with this. And if you people haven't read the warnings that were posted up in chapters one through three, well, I'm telling you right now that you go back to them and read those because I'm not doing it again. Humph. *crosses arms*

~*~ "Speaking"

'Thinking'

/Yugi speaking telepathically to Yami/

//Yami speaking telepathically to Yugi//

\Ryou speaking telepathically to Bakura\

\\ Bakura speaking telepathically to Ryou\\

-Malik speaking telepathically to Marik- 

=Marik speaking telepathicaly to Malik=

*________'s Point of View*

~~~~~~~ Time / Scene Change or Warnings....(whatever) ~~~~~~~

((Us interrupting you for a few seconds)) ~*~

Ski Trip

Chapter 4: Ski Slopes, Here We Come!

~~~~~~~ The last famous line from previous chapter... ~~~~~~~

"Malik? Marik?" they all chorused in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

~~~~~~~ Now, back to the actual story! ~~~~~~~

The two figures smirked at the bewildered faces that confronted them.

"That's all we get after separation of six months?" Malik asked in a hurt tone, obviously faking it.

"Oh no," Yami said sarcastically. "You expect something else? How about a noogie?" With that said, he attacked the sandy-coloured-hair boy and messed up his head. Before long, Yami finished only to be replaced by Bakura.

"ITAI [1]! Bakura!!" Malik screamed as Bakura dug his knuckles into his scalp.

Bakura released him and pretended to look innocent. "What?"

Marik growled. "I swear, if you touch Malik again, you'll never see daylight again!"

Bakura, who thought the fellow yami was joking, teased. "Oohh...I'm shaking in my boots. I'm so scared. Ryou! Marik threatened me!" He clutched at Ryou's arms in exaggeration to his statement.

"I'm not kidding, Bakura," Marik shouted. He lunged at the Millennium Ring's spirit despite of the heavy clothings he was forced to wear.

Bakura's eyes widened as he realized something: Marik was actually serious. Even more surprised, he stumbled backwards a few steps before screaming like a banshee and took off into the snow. The others sweatdropped frequently as they caught phrases from them as they ran past. Things like "Ryou, get this deranged yami off of me!" and "Ha! I got you now, you idiot!" Ryou and Malik sighed. Those two always fight, yet they are as close as twin brothers. They started to walk forward to separate the fight when the door that led to the rental shop opened in an almighty BANG and stopped them dead in their tracks.

Téa, who looked like she went through the wild woods, glared at the group. Well, it wasn't exactly indicated to Yami, but since the Millennium Puzzle's spirit was standing beside Yugi, and the stare was for him...let's just say Yami took it the wrong way. He was happy nonetheless. You know, about that annoying mortal not starting to drool and giggle again? But he couldn't help but feel a little apprehension as Téa's steely blue eyes continued to pierce the group's happy spirit. 

She descended the little steps that led down to the group with as much ease she possessed. Which is pratically none. She couldn't bare it if Yami saw her fall down the stairs and lay in a crumpled mess. She made it to the bottom, and what better luck than now as Bakura and Marik ran past. They streamrollered the girl as she let out a shriek. The two stopped and looked back at the damage they caused. Téa's worst nightmare has come true. She was lying in a crumpled heap in an awkard position, arms and legs dangling all over the place. The group burst into laughter, even Marik and Bakura stopped their fight to laugh at the girl's misfortune.

"Come on, Ryou. We've been holding these skis for ages and precious time is being wasted. Let's go hit the slopes!" Yugi exclaimed excitedly, regaining his composure.

Ryou nodded in agreement. "Hey, guys..." he began tentatively.

The group's attention snapped onto him. Ryou let out a big breath, took in a big breath, and continued, "EVERYONE GET YOUR SKIS OR SNOWBOARDS AND LET'S GO!!!!!" He jumped up and down in his enthusiastic state.

They stared at him for a few seconds before they processed the words in their brains. Joey grabbed his snowboard, along with Tristan, Duke, Seto, and Mai. They snapped on their left foot to their snowboard, and before long they were all set to go. On the other hand, Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Bakura, and Téa got their skis on. The spirits had trouble stepping on the lock while maintaining their balance, so their lights volunteered to let them hold on as they secured themselves on to the skis. Téa stared at Yugi jealously as Yami took hold of Yugi's shoulders, held on to them, and squeezed it gently before releasing it. 

"You guys go ahead," Yugi called as they started to complain. "Yami and Bakura needs to know the basics first anyway." He waved as they went to Chairlift 1, which allowed them to have access to the green hills.

"I'll stay and help too!" Téa butted in. She looked really excited.

Yugi and Ryou, being the nice people, sighed inwardly but had a cheerful face on. "Sure, Téa." 

Yami and Bakura groaned at the thought of having the annoying girl as their instructor. They brightened considerably, however, when they learned that Yugi and Ryou would stay and monitor them.

"So first," Yugi began.

"You should learn how to walk with your skis on!" Téa chirped as she latched on to Yami's right arm. "Come on, Yami-kun, I'll teach you!"

Yami winced. Man, this girl's got some good grip! Yugi's usual amethyst coloured eyes turned just a shade darker, almost matching Yami's orbs. Through their soul link, Yami sensed that his hikari's anger. Thinking quickly, he detached himself from the monster's grasp and hurried over to his light. The original eye colour came back. Yami sighed in relief. Yugi smiled happily as Téa seethed. Ryou and Bakura chuckled at Téa's hilarious face.

((Me: Please keep in mind that they took off their skis as they trudged uphill. Sorry if anyone's confused.))

After another hour, with Téa interrupting the peaceful lesson a dozen of times, Yami and Bakura finally mastered the basic skills they needed to know on how to ski. They were quick learners, yes, you have to give them that, and in no time at all the five of them met up with the other five.

"Hey!" Yugi high-fived Joey as they came close enough. "Where's Malik and Marik?"

Joey blinked and scratched the back of his head, confused. "Eh? I thought they were with you, Yug'."

Ryou looked horrified. "We left those two Egyptian freaks unattended? Oh no! This whole place will be destroyed...or worse!"

Bakura growled. "Hey, watch it. I'm Egyptian too, remember?"

Ryou blushed slightly, though his cheeks were tinged with red already by the coldness. "Yeah, but those two are so unpredictable! They could be so nice now and could turn so sinister the next! You never know when they're normal!"

"They're never normal, remember?" Yami reminded him.

"Oh, screw them. Let's go have fun!" Téa squealed in delight.

The others sweatdropped AGAIN as she slid on her skis and crashed into the people that were lined up in front of her. They thought in unison, 'We don't know her. Don't look at us...' 

The people shouted, "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, GIRL? CAN'T YOU CONTROL YOUR SKIS!?"

"Ehh..." Téa was at a loss of words. 'Yami-chan, come save me!' She fell down to the ground, unconscious as the noise built up in her eardrums.

The crowd dispersed, or rather, were being seated on the chairlift, and the group moved cautiously towards the line, where Téa was once again lying in a helpless heap. Her brown hair was tangled and were currently soaking up the snow. Her breath was laboured. No one paid much attention to her except Yugi. He scooted down and shook her awake.

"...Wha? Yami?" Téa's slurred voice mumbled. "YAMI!? Oh, you saved me! Thank you so much!" Obviously her vision hasn't cleared, because she jolted up and hugged Yugi _hard_ around the neck.

"Téa..." Yugi choked. "I can't breath! Let go!" /Yami! Come and help me get her off of me!/

//Coming, aibou!//

Yami wrenched Téa's prying fingers off of his hikari's neck and watched her body twitch violently as he hugged his hikari close in reassurance. No one was allowed to touch _HIS_ Yugi that way! No one but him alone!

/Yami...you can let go now./

Yami snapped back to reality and blushed faintly. Thank Ra that the cold has already made it turn pink. He took his hands off and said, "Téa deserved what she got." He huffed.

"HEY, YUG'! HURRY UP!" Joey shouted, waving his red-clothed hand at him. 

"Coming, Joey!" Yugi shouted back, clicking on his skis. "Let's go, Yami!"

The line diminished and the group were on the chairlifts in two's. Now, as your authoress, you would have probably guessed who I'm going to make who sit with who. But just for fun, I'll mix it up a bit. Yami was grumpily muttering curses in Ancient Egyptian as he was being forced to sit with Kaiba - Seto Kaiba, of all people! Now he had to endure at least a minute with this person who claims that he's the smartest in everything. Yugi ended up riding the chairlift with Ryou, not much damage was being done as they conversed happily about the new game that just came out. Tristan was edging until his butt was on the verge of falling off the chair - anything to get away from the now-pissed yami. True, Bakura looked like he's just eaten ten spicy peppers and steam was currently coming out of his ears. The hair turned "sharper" and more dangerous as he glowered. Duke and Mai were sitting uncomfortably in the chair before all of them, not really used to each other's company YET. Joey, being the clumsy boy that he is, ended up sitting alone behind everyone. He lounged on the chair with a smug and cheerful expression on, but inside...it was full of turmoil and doubts.

With ease, Duke and Mai got off the chairlift without falling, but sat down anyways to tie their right foot on to the snowboard. Yugi and Ryou came off next, then Yami and Seto, then Tristan and Bakura - who, by the way, looked extremely relieved. Joey casually slipped off the little hill and landed on his butt. He laughed and proceeded to tie his foot to the board. 

"Uh...are you sure about this, aibou?" Yami gulped as the wind howled around them, him gazing down the snow-filled hill with apprehension. This was harder than he thought.

"Of course!" Yugi replied brightly. "Just remember the turns and snowplow we taught you. You'll be fine!"

"Going?" Tristan called, being extremely impatiently.

The rest nodded and they took off. Well, technically, The Millennium Item keepers stayed behind to keep their yamis in check. They shouted encouragements to them as the hesitantly started forward.

"AIIIIYYYY!!!" Bakura shrieked as he shot forward like a bullet. \\ Ryou, how do I stop again?\\

\SNOWPLOW! SNOWPLOW!\ And in reality, he was shouting the same thing, just twenty times louder. 

Yugi, being the excellent skier that he is ((Thanks to me! ^___^)), skied backwards to keep his yami on check. Yugi nodded every now and then to prove that Yami was doing the right thing. 

"Phew," Yami let out a breath. "That wasn't so bad. I mean, I did better than Bakura..."

The spirit of the Millennium Ring was currently sitting in a snowbank, his head half submerged in the white snow that was tainted with brown because of all the dirt. Ryou was trying to haul him out; but he was currently unbuckling his skis first. It was quite a funny sight, actually.

Téa recovered from her convulsions, and was waiting impatiently for the rest of the group to come down. Her eyes brightened as she spotted Yami, standing beside Yugi protectively. Man, talk about possessiveness.

The rest of them reached the bottom and seemed really unhappy about Téa being finally conscious to join their activities. They congratulated each other for not falling down on their first run. Except Bakura, who looked really mad for making a fool out of himself in front of his hikari.

"Now that we're warmed up," Yugi grinned mischievously. "Ready for the big test?"

~ To be Continued ~

[1] Itai is Japanese, and it means "ouch" in English.

Authoress' Notes:

Princess Strawberry: How was that? Enough Téa bashing? Enough fluffy moments? Ok, ignore that question. I know I didn't put in a lot of Malik and Marik fluff or action, but come on, they just arrived. What do you expect?

Yugi: ^____^ Please read and review or else Strawberry-san will run clean out of ideas on what to write. 

Princess Strawberry: Oh, and I've decided, if I'm to post up a lemon, I'm not going to post it up in my account. I don't want to lose all my stories and all the lovely reviews you dear reviewers sent me. So I'm gonna push my yami to start her own account so I can post it up there! But don't expect a lot of updates there, since it's for stories that are rated 'R'. So, do you people want that, or do you want me to just place it in some other site like "mediaminer.org"?


	5. Chapter 5: The First Half of the Second ...

Princess Strawberry: Yay! 83 reviews! I think this story is becoming better than Peaches and Chocolate...

Yami Strawberry: Thanks to all who reviewed, and we're very sorry if you were looking for an update in her other stories, *jabs finger at computer screen* but she just feels that this has to be done. 

Princess Strawberry: Yes, on the sudden surge of inspiration, I'm forced to do that. You got a problem?

Yami Strawberry, Yami & Yugi: No, m'am!

Princess Strawberry: Good. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. If I did, I would turn it into yaoi! ^__^ Thank you to Starkiss for putting me on her "Favourite Authors" list. On with the fifth chapter.

~*~ "Speaking"

'Thinking'

/Yugi speaking telepathically to Yami/

//Yami speaking telepathically to Yugi//

\Ryou speaking telepathically to Bakura\

\\ Bakura speaking telepathically to Ryou\\

=Malik speaking telepathically to Marik= 

==Marik speaking telepathicaly to Malik==

*________'s Point of View*

~~~~~~~ Time / Scene Change or Warnings....(whatever) ~~~~~~~

((Us interrupting you for a few seconds)) ~*~

Ski Trip

Chapter 5: The First Half of the Second Day is Over

"Ready for what test?" Yami asked curiously.

"Ready for the stripe test!" Ryou answered excitedly.

"Stripe test?" The yamis were confused.

The hikaris threw their hands up into the air as a sign of frustration. "By Ra, I've forgotten how little you know about the modern world! So sorry. Well, when you take the stripe test, they'll give you either a green, blue, or red sticker. The green one means you can go on the hill we just went on. The blue one means you can have access to Chairlift 1 and 5. And the red sticker is the highest level you can achieve; you can go on all the lifts except 6, because that's reserved for members only. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Good."

They took off their skis and snowboards, picked them up, and trudged towards the testing area. They saw little red and blue poles stuck in the snow, and skiers and snowboarders were going around it. They came to an abrupt stop at the bottom and the funny person in the red jacket stuck something on their lift jacket. Téa, who was too hyped up this morning, bounced ahead and nearly got herself killed by a skier.

"Oops. Sorry about that, girlie." The unknown skier went off hurriedly.

"Next time watch where you're going!" Téa yelled after him. 'Man, I shouldn't have yelled at him; he was kinda cute. But Yami's cuter!' she giggled subconsciously.

"Téa, are you sure you are okay?" Duke asked as Téa's shoulder shook violently.

"Oh, yes. I'm quite positive that I want to stay and have some winter fun," she recomposed herself as calmly as she could.

"Alright," Duke said doubtfully. "If you're up to it."

"Of course I am! It's only the first day!"

While they were busy talking, which I doubt that Duke was actually enjoying it, the rest of them had already made it to the top. Yami and Bakura looked a bit scared; the slope they were on before was much less steeper than this!

"Don't worry, you two will do fine," Yugi reassured them as he caught sight of their terrified faces.

"But - " Too late. The guy at the bottom had already blown his whistle and Ryou pushed off. He made a perfect hockey stop at the bottom, and they could hear him cheer and saw hime give them a victory sign, a sign that he made it to the red sticker. The shrill whistle pierced the silent morning atmosphere six more times, and Yami and Bakura were the only ones left to go. It all depended on them right now. The whistle was heard, and Yami, being the brave Pharaoh, went before Bakura. But Bakura, being the competitive Tomb Robber, went at the same time as Yami. The two fought their way down, yelling insults at each other, and surprisingly, they didn't fall. They too, made a perfect hockey stop at the bottom, panting for breath. The guy in the red jacket had an amused and mischievous look twinkling in those lavender eyes. He gave them both a red sticker and they cheered loudly.

"Yes! We made it!" they hugged each other happily before tearing themselves off forcefully as they realized who they were hugging.

"Demo [1], wait..." Yami slowed down, recollecting his breath. "Lavender eyes..." his voice trailed off. Then it became increasingly loud. "MALIK!!"

"You called?" the hikari took off his orange goggles and black hood, revealing those eyes and sand-coloured spiky hair.

"I knew it!" Yami praised himself.

"Where's Marik?" Yugi asked suspiciously. He had a half thought that the weird yami had gone off to find more trouble.

A roaring sound of the snowmobile made them turn around. Malik grinned and replied, "There's your answer."

Bakura's jaw dropped open. "Wow," his voice laced with awe and admiration. "Where did you get this beauty?" He suddenly sensed Ryou's jealousy. \\ Don't worry, Ryou. You're the only one I'll ever like.\\ 

The white-haired boy's spirit seemed to be relieved and felt more light. \Thanks, Bakura. That means a lot to me.\

"Some dude down there lent it to me," Marik rubbed the hood of the snowmobile affectionately.

"Lent?" Joey raised an eyebrow, knowing very well that Marik has a habit of not telling the truth. From the looks of it, he probably just took it without asking for permission. In simpler words, he stole it.

"Yes, lent," Marik repeated, grinning.

As if on cue, a man around his thirties, sprinted up to the group. "You..thief...! Give...me..back..my sno.wmobile..!!" he panted for breath.

"I knew it," Joey mumbled under his breath. "Marik did steal it after all."

Seto heard it and could not help but whisper back, "When did you become so smart, chihuahua?"

That insult did it. Joey's head snapped up and his eyes blazed with so much emotions. "None of your business, Kaiba. And if you keep on probing through my private life, I will personally make your life suffer like living hell," he hissed.

Seto took a step back at Joey's strange behaviour. He was so kind a minute ago, when he was conversing with Yugi and Ryou, but now, he turned into a boy that just pushed aside all reason to quarrel. Seto decided to stay low for a while.

Mai tapped Ryou and Yugi (who were standing beside each other, looking very amused at Marik and the man's predicament) gently on the shoulder. They whirled around and saw the blond.

"Oh. Yes?"

"Can we go now?" 

"And leave Marik here all alone again?" Yugi raised an eyebrow. "I really don't think so. Hang on, though. I'll try to break this up." He walked up to the duo and tried to silence them.

//Be careful, aibou. They're really dangerous at this rate.//

/Don't worry, I will./ "Hey, you two!" he yelled loudly. The two blinked and turned to the slightly short boy. "Stop fighting, alright? Let's go! We're wasting precious time here!" He waved his watch around, making them a little dizzy. "Look, mister, Marik can give back your snowmobile when we go inside, which is like in three hours before we have to go in for lunch. Deal?"

The man nodded. 

"Good. Now Marik, be a good boy and pinky-promise this man that you will give him back the snowmobile."

The others sweatdropped. Pinky-promise?

Marik looked confused as the man held out a gloved pinky. ==Err...what am I supposed to do, Malik?==

=Shake it with your left pinky, dork.=

Marik did as he was told and the man left, feeling deflated.

"Nice work, aibou," Yami praised his hikari. Yugi blushed.

"It was nothing."

Tristan tugged at Joey's sleeve impatiently. "Wanna try out the half pipe?"

"You're on, bud! Oh, and see ya people around!" Joey yelled over his shoulder as he hurried off with the brunette. 

"Remember to meet us in the cafeteria at twelve!" Mai shouted at their retreating forms. Seto slipped away in the same direction Joey took silently. Nobody noticed him leaving besides Yugi. He decided to stay quiet, knowing full well how much Seto loved Joey. But the time isn't ripe to tell him yet. The same applied to him. He sighed, knowing full well that sooner or later he would have to confess to Yami, even though it would mean ruining their friendship. Their bond would never be the same again. That's why he kept silent, hoping that the feelings will go away. But they didn't. His conscience kept nagging in his mind that there's a chance that Yami would accept him, but he would have to take a bold move forward. He didn't however, because he's the shy and quiet type.

"Oi, Yugi!" Duke shouted. "Let's go! You're going to miss the lift!"

"Coming!" He maneuvered himself skillfully on the skis towards the waiting group. He noted that in this chairlift, you can have up to four people sitting in it. He lined up patiently, careful not to bump into the people in front of him. Snowboarders were always easier, since they have one foot untied and could stabilize themselves with the grips at the bottom of their shoes. Skiers were always the less fortunate ones; the bottom of the skis were so slippery that if you were on ice, you could be in serious trouble unless you know perfect skiing techniques.

Yugi, Yami, Bakura, and Ryou made it into a line. Yami and Bakura switched places with their hikaris as soon as they caught a glimpse of each other. So now the order from left to right is: Yami, Yugi, Ryou, and Bakura. 

"But you two could fall off when you reach the top!" the two lights protested as they were shoved towards the middle. "You could be seriously hurt!"

"I don't care! It's better than sitting beside that baka [2]!" Yami and Bakura pointed and glared at each other.

"Whatever," Yugi and Ryou let up. It was no use arguing with their counterparts once their minds were made up. "See you up ther - WHOA!" The four skiers shouted as they were hoisted on to the chairlift.

So now, the only five people left were Duke, Mai, Malik, Marik, and Téa. Since none of them wanted to go with the annoying girl, they decided to go together, leaving Téa behind with strangers. But somehow, as they sat comfortably in the lift, Téa's head popped up and appeared to be sitting smugly on Marik's lap.

"AAAHHHH!!" Marik screamed, pushing her off of his lap and on to his hikari's. "GET HER OFF ME!!"

"Don't give it to me!" Malik cried, pushing her off and on to Mai's lap.

"I just took a shower this morning and I don't want to be contaminated by this girl's germs!" Mai screeched, frantically flailing her arms and legs in the attempt of getting her off. As a result, she landed on Duke's lap. His calm expression turned to one of horror.

"Whoa! Where did this monster come from!?" he bellowed, pushing Téa to his left, which, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) happened to be empty space.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Téa shrieked, and on a lucky impulse, she caught hold of the rim of the chairlift. "PLEASE!! HELP ME UP!!"

"NEVER!!" the four cried, and Duke smashed his fist down on to Téa's gloved hand. They watched in satisfaction as the girl flailed her arms in an attempt to stop her from falling. Well, skis never works. She landed in a messy heap on the steep hill, which, by the way, was a double black diamond hill since it's Chairlift 3. She began rolling down the hill, gathering snow until she became a giant human snowball, with legs and arms sticking out like a person that was about to do a cartwheel. Laughter echoed loudly amongst the hills as she tumbled down, came to an abrupt halt at the bottom, only to be pelted with snowballs.

"What happened to Téa?" Ryou asked as the group assembled, with one missing.

"Didn't you see?" Duke asked, highly amused.

"Err..let me guess. She fell off the lift and tumbled down the hill, became a giant snowball, and people were pelting snowballs at her at the bottom." Yugi supplied.

The others stared at him. "Are you psychic?"

Yugi shrugged his shoulders. "No. It happened the last time when we went skiing. About three years ago?"

"Ah.." the others nodded understandingly.

"She still hasn't improved then."

"Enough chit-chat. LET'S SKKKIIIIII!!!!" Ryou exclaimed.

"Err..we snowboard."

"What did you let him eat this morning, Bakura?" Yugi asked. "Hopefully not sugar."

"I've got to agree with Malik. You are psychic."

So the rest of the morning was spent on the hills. People screamed in excitement as they bombed down the hill, and others just tentatively skied slowly, careful of where they were going. For those who bombed too much, they got a warning about if they did it again, their lift tickets would have to be forced off. No more fun.

At around eleven thirty, Yugi called it quits. "Let's go in for lunch. Keiko-san said lunch is supposed to be at twelve, and I'm sure I could use some warming up before we eat."

"I'm with you," Duke huffed, cheeks flushed a bright red.

"My fingers are getting frostbitten, so yeah, let's go in," Ryou added.

"YO, YAMI! BAKURA! MALIK! MARIK! LET'S GO! WE'RE GOING INSIDE!" Yugi and Ryou hollered, with Duke and Mai covering their ears to block out the extreme volume.

And fifteen minutes later, the entire group gathered around the front door, with Yugi counting heads. "Good," he approved. "Everyone present. Let's go and have lunch!"

They trooped inside, dusting off snow and proceeded to their respective rooms. Coats piled on to their beds, and the neater people hung them up in the closet to dry off properly. They met back at the cafeteria and grabbed a table. Others began swarming into the dining area and took a seat as well.

Two hours later, lunch was over.

~ To be Continued ~

[1] Demo in Japanese means "but" in English.

[2] Baka in Japanese means "idiot" in English.

Authoress' Notes:

Princess Strawberry: Please excuse my limited vocabulary of Japanese. So, how was this chapter? Good? Bad? Good Téa bashing? Not much fluff, I know, but I'm really pressed in my schedule right now. So please!!

Yami Strawberry: She's really stressed out, you know, her history lesson started, and she has to drag that heavy textbook around, plus school, plus music, plus homework, and all the other stuff. 

Yami: So please read and review and make her life much more easier!


	6. Chapter 6: Fevers and Injuries

Princess Strawberry: Hey!! 111 reviews!? ALL RIGHT!!! *pummels air* ARIGATO, MINNA-SAN!! You're all very kind! *glomps reviewers* And one more thing before we go on, I would like to thank CherryBlossom Maiden, Neko-star, Star Light Shadow and HikariChang for putting me on their "Favourite Authors" list! I'm extremely happy today, and I hope you liked my final chapter of "Peaches and Chocolate"!

Yami Strawberry: Enough blabbering! Just get on with the story.

Princess Strawberry: I apologize in advance for my slow updating, and for the lack of fluff in the last chapter. *sobs* SO SORRY, MINNA!! ^__^;; Alright, a little hyper from sugar, but that's okay. But you have to admit it, you liked Téa falling off the lift!! Admit it!! MUAHWAHWAHWA!! ^__~

Yami: *sweatdrop* Excuse you. Princess Strawberry does not own Yu-Gi-Oh (or Yuu Yuu Hakusho in this matter, as some of our nice reviewers told us that we used the people in there...) or any of its characters. If she did, Téa wouldn't be in it and we'll be celebrating for joy. She also does not own Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort, ok?

Yugi: Well, here's the sixth chapter! Enjoy! And EgyptianQueen17, you'll get your wish in this chapter! ^^

~*~ "Speaking"

'Thinking'

/Yugi speaking telepathically to Yami/

//Yami speaking telepathically to Yugi//

\Ryou speaking telepathically to Bakura\

\\ Bakura speaking telepathically to Ryou\\

=Malik speaking telepathically to Marik= 

==Marik speaking telepathicaly to Malik==

*________'s Point of View*

~~~~~~~ Time / Scene Change or Warnings....(whatever) ~~~~~~~

((Us interrupting you for a few seconds)) ~*~

Ski Trip

Chapter 6: Fevers and Injuries

After lunch, the gang trooped to Yugi's room for some rest and fun. Joey whipped out his dueling deck and yelled, "Who feels like dueling?"

Seto rose from his position and yelled back. "How about challenging me, mutt?"

"Oh, yeah? I'll wipe that smirk off your face when I beat you in this duel! On some agreements, of course. If I win, you stop calling chihuahua or mutt or any dog names, got it, Kaiba?"

Seto's smirk widened. "Fine. But if I win, I get to dominate you tonight." ((Me: I'm not trying to be dirty, honest! That was my friend's idea!))

Everyone gasped at Seto's statement. Joey's face flushed heavily, resembling a ripe tomato. "But..." he stumbled over his words in the desperation of getting them out in a hurry. "..you can't just TAKE me HERE!"

Seto growled. Him, the great CEO of Kaiba Corp., one of the biggest companies in the world, is definitely not going to be stopped at anything to get his object. In this case, his favourite puppy: Joey Wheeler. "Fine," he muttered. "You're coming home with me to keep the bet after this trip."

"We'll see about that, Kaiba." Joey hissed, slapping his deck on to the table. Seto followed suit, all the while smirking at his opponent.

The duel ended with Seto Kaiba playing his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (or Obelisk the Tormentor if you prefer...), laughing triumphantly as a winner. "I win, puppy. Keep your promise, Joey."

((Me: Yes, I know I'm being lazy about the details of the duel. But yeah...I have to get on with the outdoor activities!))

Joey blinked in surprise. Moneybags had never called him by his first name before! "Fine," Joey sighed defeatedly.

"Yo, it's only two o'clock...anyone up for a few more runs on the hills?" Tristan spoke up.

"I am!" Ryou and Yugi shouted in unison. "We're tackling Double Black Diamond hills!"

"Isn't that dangerous?" Bakura asked, concerned for his other half.

"It's not if you know what you're doing. Come on, Yugi! Let's go grab our skis!" Ryou replied.

"Hang on. I need a word with Yami. I'll meet you at Chairlift 3, okay? It won't take that long."

"Alright," Ryou said reluctantly and left the room with the others. "Hurry up, though!" he called back.

"I will!" Yugi called back and closed the door with a SNAP. He turned around to face Yami, whose face was tinged with an interesting shade of red. "Yami, are you feeling alright?"

Not wanting to worry his light, Yami set up mind blocks and chose to lie. It wasn't necessarily the best thing Yami wanted to do, but he had to. "Of course I am, aibou!" Yami answered brightly. "Why wouldn't I be?" 'I hope he buys this.'

Yugi heaved a sigh, unheard by his darker half. 'Why won't you tell me what's wrong? I want to help...' Faking a cheerful face, Yugi's face lit up with his brilliant smile. "All right then. If you're fine, we'll head outside and join the others for some more ski runs!"

Yami smiled faintly. Yes, let his aibou be free from this strange headache he was having. He shouldn't suffer for the stuff he was having. He followed his counterpart of the building to see the gang putting on the skis and snowboards.

They split off into groups of four again and went up to the hills. Quickly, Yugi turned right when he reached the top. Ryou and their respective yamis followed suit. In a few seconds, Yugi had already disappeared from the top of the hill. The others peered over to see him waiting for them at the bottom. 

"Does he bomb down the hill?" Marik asked incredulously.

"Nope," Joey answered off-handedly. "He's just fast, that's all."

Duke's head snapped up in a moment of brilliant brainstorming. "Hey, how about we time how long we take to go down the hill?"

((Me: -___-;; Geez, that sounds so lame, right? Well, deal with it...I'm not in the mood. Plus I have nothing else INTERESTING to write at the moment.))

The others thought about it. While they were, Yugi got impatient and went on the lift himself. Sadly, the other occupants were, um, kind of "chubby", so he was like the ham between two big slices of bread. He sighed in relief as he got off the lift. By that time, the others had already decided, and Ryou was forced to take off his stop watch, growling at Duke. Very uncharacteristcally compared to his normal behaviour.

\\ Come on, aibou. Give us the watch...\\ Bakura coaxed mentally.

\Fine. But you're buying me a new one if they break it! AND you're going to make up for this.\ Ryou reluctantly handed over his watch and watched sadly as it was passed around for them to admire. 

\\ Don't worry, I will.\\ Bakura grinned at his hikari.

"Alright, who's going first?" Duke waved his hand around, the watch on the verge of falling from his grasp.

Ryou's eyes widened as Duke waved the watch around dangerously.

"NNNOOOO!!!" Ryou shouted as he took off and headed towards the black-haired boy. Duke thought he was attacking him, so he quickly scooted off to the side, Ryou going straight down the hill.

"Gotcha!" Duke yelled happily as he pressed the 'start' button.

The wind whipped Ryou's face before he became fully aware of his surroundings. He realized he was bombing down the hill, and already several skiers were off to one side, glaring at him, either holding on to their arms or supporting themselves with their poles while waiting for their friend to get up. Ryou waved an apology and screamed "Sorry!" before he made wide turns to go slower. 

Duke pressed the 'stop' button as Ryou touched bottom. "Oh great, how am I supposed to remember all these numbers?" The numbers read 0:47.

"Well, since you're the one who came up with the idea, figure it out yourself!" Mai moved over, dragging her snowboard behind her. 

"That was SO blunt." Duke muttered as she sat down heavily and buckled her shoe to the snowboard. "I'm going next." She pushed herself off the ground and yelling a loud "Excuse me!", she made it to the bottom at the time of 1:01. 

Joey decided to go after the blonde girl. He tumbled a few times to avoid little children learning to ski, earning himself the time of 1:23. Seto Kaiba took off after his crush. With as much ease as possible, he weaved through the thick crowd and landed on exactly 1:15. He tried to ignore Joey's awe-struck face, but found it too irresistible. So he settled for looking up the hill, waiting for the others to come down, all the while muttering "Come on...hurry up...!" Malik ignored Marik's protest as he took after the brunette. Surprisingly, the two Egyptians tied up in their time: 1:03. Tristan went next and landed on his rear end at the bottom, but the time wasn't bad; it was 1:21. Bakura, the third Egyptian of the group, got a time of 1:02.

"HA! I beat you two!" Bakura did a mini celebration dance with his skis still on at the bottom of the hill. 

"Yeah, like by a second!" Marik scoffed. They both growled after that and pinned Bakura down, legs stuck out at an odd angle. The swift CRACK caused the two Millennium Rod holder to stop what they were doing as realization dawned on them; Bakura's shoulder was fractured. And it's all because of them.

"Look what you've done!" Ryou growled as Bakura's pain and agony flowed through their mental link. Marik and Malik inched away from the now-over-excited silver-haired teen. The once warm and caring chocolate brown eyes are gone; they were replaced by furious flamed ones. But the look disappeared as Bakura kept mumbling about "hurt...", "need hikari...", and "need to kill Egyptian people...including the Pharaoh..."

Ryou's face switched gears from anger to one of concern and worry. "Hold on, Bakura. I'm going to take you to the nurse's office inside the building. Just hang on. For me, Bakura..."

Bakura nodded slightly and fell unconscious. Tristan and Joey wordlessly picked up the limp form of Bakura and headed towards the resort with Ryou tagging along. Malik and Marik, swallowed up in their guilt, followed the group of four as well.

From above the hill, Yugi, Yami, Duke, and Téa wondered why six people were heading towards the building. Duke snapped out of his trance and tapped Yami lightly on the shoulder. He gestured towards the hill where Seto and Mai were waiting for them. Yami gulped slightly, and Yugi, noticing how tense his yami was, gave him a bright and reassuring smile. Yami's spirit lightened up considerably at the adorable face, took a final breath, and shot down the double black diamond hill.

Yet, as fate would have planned it, Téa's skis slipped from under her and with a loud "YAHHHH!!!", she took off. Yugi and Duke watched in horror as she crashed into several snowboarders (first-timers at that too!) without calling back an apology. They both winced as another cried out as their shoulder got hit by her pole. Their eyes clamped tightly shut as the piercing scream of Yami echoed through the hills.

With one eye open, Yugi peeked at the white heap of...stuff...in the middle of the course. Téa was obviously still going down, but for some reason, she was hanging on to someone else's legs, dragging the figure down with her. 

/Yami!/

Yugi rushed down the hills with Duke hot on his trail. "Duke, help me get Téa's grasp off Yami's legs!" 

"I'm on it!" Duke called as he pried Téa's surprisingly strong grip off of the poor boy. As soon as her fingers came loose, he let her fall unconscious to the snow heap beside him. Somehow, though, she started sliding horizontally across the hill. 

((Me: O___o Alright, I have no idea how you do that, but yeah...this is Téa, remember? The idiot? Yes. You know what I'm talking about...))

"Yo, you need a hand?" a girl in a bright orange outfit called as she landed with a swift stop beside the three. 

"Yes, please." The two boys panted.

The girl quickly called over a snowmobile. They lifted Yami on to it, and they watched as it roared off, sending a cloud of snow in their faces. They coughed slightly.

The girl turned curiously to the shorter boy of the duo. Some of the blonde bangs and the black and crimson mass of hair stuck out under from his navy blue hat. The violet eyes that had held worry now turned on to the girl. She quickly smiled and stuck out her hand. "Hi, my name's Carrie."

The boy smiled faintly. "Hey, Carrie. I'm Yugi, and," he gestured to the black-haired boy beside him, smiling. "He's Duke."

"Yugi!? Not the Yugi Motou that won the Duelist Kingdom tournment, beaten Duke at his own Dungeon Dice Game," Duke glowered at her at that statement. "And won the Battle City tournment? Wow, this must be lucky day!"

Yugi rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Err...yeah, I'm Yugi Motou. But I'd prefer not that much publicity here..."

Carrie calmed down from her excitement. "Nice to meet you two! Horseshoe Valley is the best, don't you think?" she asked, hastily changing the subject.

"Of course." Duke replied.

"Is there some way we can repay you for helping us?" Yugi chimed in.

Carrie pondered. "Well..." she started. "There's a way you can help..."

"We're listening."

"I really hate this girl called Téa or something like that..."

"TÉA!?"

"You guys know her?" she cocked an eyebrow at their bewildered expression.

"Yup. She's one of our _friends_." Duke exaggerated the last word with sarcasm.

"Umm...I see. I was plotting revenge against her, and hey, not to be rude or anything, but do you like her?" Carrie asked curiously.

"...no." They both cracked a grin at their answer.

Carrie's grin grew wider than the two of the boys. "Good, because I have the perfect way to injure her badly. You guys in?"

"Yes, but I believe that there's two more people down there that would like to help us too."

"Eh?"

"Seto Kaiba and Mai Valentine."

"Ahh...say, where's the girl we're getting revenge at?"

"Over there." Yugi pointed to the unconscious girl that was getting trampled over by skiers. Other poking her severely on the sides with poles and stomping on her with their snowboards.

Carrie hurriedly skiied over and yelled, "Please stop what you're doing!"

Téa's eyes flew open at the loud noise. "Oh, please, help me!!"

Carrie smirked at Téa's helplessness. "Why should I?" she hissed, venom in her voice. "I'm just an innocent passerby that just happened to hate you and wished you were dead."

Téa's blue eyes were like the size of dinner plates by now. "But why?" she croaked in a scratchy voice. "Friends are supposed to help each other out - "

"ENOUGH!!" Carrie shouted, grabbing the girl by the shoulder and shook her violently. Téa's head lolled back and forth at the movements. "WHEN CAN YOU GET THE MESSAGE THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL THAT YOUR ANNOYING FRIENDSHIP SPEECHES ARE GETTING ON PEOPLE'S NERVES!? THIS IS FOR SAYING _WAY_ TOO MUCH STUFF WHEN YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT QUIET," she took off her skies and kicked her in the shins. Téa winced at the pain that was building up in her legs. "AND THIS," Carrie contiued, rolling up Téa into a giant human bowling ball and got ready into a position of throwing her away. "IS FOR ANNOYING US LIKE NO TOMORROW. Sayonara, sucker!"

Téa the giant bowling ball flew off into the woods, and the sound of splintering wood echoed off the mountains. The crowd that had gathered around the two girls cheered. Yugi and Duke just looked amazed.

"Wow," they both said in awe.

Carrie came back and gave them both the high-five. "There, Téa's gone! No more torture! Yahoo!" she raced down the hill.

Yugi and Duke sweatdropped and looked at each other. "But...we didn't do anything!"

~ To be Continued ~

Authoress' Notes:

Princess Strawberry: I can't believe I hurted my second favourite character! *cries* And my fourth favourite one at that, too! This has _got_ to be the worst chapter ever!

Yami Strawberry: There, there. *not so sympathetically* It's not that bad...

Yugi and Ryou: T____T *sniff*

Yami and Bakura: *hugs their respective hikaris while glaring at Malik and Marik*

Malik and Marik: *whispers* Let's get out of here...*inches towards "Exit" door*

Yami and Bakura: *abandons hikaris* COME BACK HERE, YOU MORONS!! *chases after them*

Malik and Marik: RUN FOR IT!! *screams*

Yugi and Ryou: T________________________T *sniff*

Princess Strawberry: *blink* Huh? *wipes tears away* And one more note. I'm going to stick to "Cinderella in Yu-Gi-Oh! Style!" until I update aything else. Sorry to any Bakura/Ryou fans; I don't want you to fall asleep through it since it's the last chapter...^^;;; So read and review, minna! I apologize again for my slow updating-ness (it's not a word, so don't copy it) and the lack of fluff in last chappie. Hope this one met your expectations. *bows* Ja ne! Until the next story I'm updating! *waves* Happy Easter, everyone!


	7. Chapter 7: Close Admittance

Princess Strawberry: Ohayo, minna! ^__^ Extra perky today, thanks to all of you lovely reviewers, boosting my reviews all the way up to 136!! Arigato!! *bows* And more thanks to Mrs.YamiYugi, Hine no Chikyuu, The Pendant Whackjob, Angel-Anastasia, Dark kitty14, wilted petals, and YugisisterMagenta for putting me on their "Favourite Authors" list! I feel so loved!!! ^-^

Yami Strawberry: Hey...*looks over script for seventh chapter* This isn't so bad! Though we should warn the readers that there will be a gig-*gets slapped with duct-tape on the mouth* MMPHH!! O__O

Princess Strawberry: *hurriedly* Me no own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters, though I own the plot, and I'm babbling, so let's get a move on here!

~*~ "Speaking"

'Thinking'

/Yugi speaking telepathically to Yami/

//Yami speaking telepathically to Yugi//

\Ryou speaking telepathically to Bakura\

\\ Bakura speaking telepathically to Ryou\\

=Malik speaking telepathically to Marik= 

==Marik speaking telepathicaly to Malik==

*________'s Point of View*

~*~*~*~*~*~ - Scene/Time Change (hehheh...I changed the symbol again! ^^;)

((Us interrupting you for a few seconds)) ~*~

Ski Trip

Chapter 7: Close Admittance

"Yami?" Yugi inquired softly, eyes peering around the white door curiously. Duke and him had reached the nurse infirmary right after Carrie's hurried, but dramatic, exit. Duke had quickly explained that he needed to take a shower before the dinner that was set at six-thirty, so Yugi was left alone in front of Room 108, left alone to deal with his feelings.

"Come in," came Yami's low grumble.

Yugi timidly walked in and closed the door gently behind him, avoiding Yami's gaze. His darker half was lying in bed, completely camouflaging him in his white gown. The piece of garment made no effort to float on top of his body; in fact, it was clinging on to him - and the fact that it showed his well-toned muslces didn't help Yugi's position at all. 

"Konnichiwa, mou hitori no boku," Yami greeted weakly.

"Konnichiwa," Yugi responded. "What did they say about your condition?"

"Fever and the fact that the nurses won't let me wear leather!" Yami whined, trying to get up, straining his already tense muscles.

Yugi giggled despite of Yami's unfortunate predicament. "But it'll hurt you when you sleep!" he tried to reason with the spirit, who had a funny-looking pout on his face. He placed his hands firmly on Yami's shoulders and eased him back in the bed. "Take it easy," Yugi advised him.

Yami grunted in protest. "But it's so boring just lying here...there's nothing to do!"

Yugi felt a tug at his heart. "All right," he gave in. "I'll try to convince Keiko-san to move you back to our room, rather than being cooped up in here." 'At least that'll give me sometime to sort out my emotions and maybe confess to you...'

Yami was too sore, but let out a strangled cheer nonetheless. "Arigato, aibou..."

Yugi flashed his trademark grin at him. "Key word's try." And he flounced out of the room and out into the hallway.

With Yugi gone from the room, Yami's eyes returned to the white ceiling, pondering. Why did Yugi have such an effect on him?

Oh yeah, he told himself. Ever since the little light had solved the puzzle and released him from eternal darkness.   
((Me: --; Haven't we gone over this before? But what the heck, I'll do it again, even if it's boring. You may skip it if you want...))   
It was five thousand years ago when he was Pharaoh of Egypt. Five thousand years ago when his heart was an impenetrable iceberg. Five thousands years ago when he sacrificed himself so that the world would be at peace. Five thousands years ago when he was trapped in that Ra-damned Puzzle. And then, present day, head over heals, hopelessly in love with Yugi Motou, the destined boy who solved the Millennium Puzzle. Present day when his mind would succumb easily to Yugi's charm or puppy-dog eyes. Present day when his soul would tear into tiny little pieces everytime Yugi is sad or crying. Present day when his once-cold heart would melt at the slightest ring of laughter Yugi made or the merest smile given to him by Yugi. Present day when...

"Good news, Yami!" Yugi was back. "Keiko-san relented after I told her I knew how to treat fevers, and the nurses actually told me to go right ahead!"

Yami smiled weakly. "That's great, Yugi." He struggled with the blankets as a desperate attempt to get up.

Yugi's eyes widened. "You can't get out of bed just yet! You're in no shape to walk by yourself! Hang on, 'k? I'll go get Joey and the others." And as he prepared to leave the room, Yami grabbed his arm. "Hai?"

Yami swallowed and let out an inaudible sigh. Yes, this is going to be hard, but he's willing to give it a shot...even if it'll cost him their friendship. "Before you leave, aibou, I have something to tell you..."

Yugi's cheerful face turned to one of confusion and curiousity. "What is it?"

"I -"

"Oh, Yami-kins!" Téa threw open the door and came bouncing in. Yami winced. Somehow, one way or another, Téa always found a way to come back, no matter how much damage was done to her. Yugi took the time to slip out of the room quietly, unnoticed by Téa, but obviously spotted by Yami.

//You're leaving me here with her? ALONE!?//

Giggle. /I'll try to be back soon, ok? As soon as I find Joey and the others./

"I heard that you have a fever," Téa came clearly to her point, obviously oblivious to the fact that Yami was glaring at her, despite the fact that he was sick. 

"Thank you so much for your concern," Yami said stiffly and coldly. "But really, I need absolutely no sympathy from you...you're not worth my time."

((Me: You think that was a bit too harsh?  
Yami Strawberry: Nah. *shakes head*  
Me: Okay! Continue! ^-^))

Fake tears collected at the bottom of her ocean blue eyes. Her form started to quiver. Yami squirmed on the bed uncomfortably. If there was one thing the oh-mighty-King-of-Games was scared of, it was of females crying over some silly matter. Of course, whenever Yugi would cry, Yami just felt the urge to hug the little one close and kiss all those pain away.

Yugi. It always came back to Yugi.

Téa ran out of the room, all the while wailing like no tomorrow. She brushed past the gang (excluding Ryou, Bakura, Malik, and Marik, who were all still in the nurses' infirmary, and Duke, who was preparing for dinner) roughly, wiping her eyes with her sleeves angrily, and avoiding their curious gaze.

"Yami...?" Yugi ventured forth, putting a soothing touch on Yami's left arm, calming him. "Let's go."

Tristan, always the piggy-back man, crouched down and Joey and Yugi helped Yami on to his back. Tristan stood up, and for a moment, Yami felt what it was like to ride on a "wild horse". The ride back to his room was not pleasant, if not for Yugi, who kept sending soothing messages through their mind link.

"Well, we're here," Joey announced as Seto opened the door. As much as Seto hated Yami, he also hated it when Yugi turned big chibi eyes on him.

Yami collapsed on to the bed helplessly and tried in vain to sit up. //Itai...!//

/RELAX./

//...trying to...//

Sigh. /You really leave me with no choice.../

A raise of an eyebrow, also in vain. //Nani?//

"Guys...not to be rude or anything, but could you leave us? I've already told Keiko-san that I won't be at the dinner table tonight, or anytime soon..." he glanced at the fallen form of his darker half. "Until Yami gets better, I'm going to be in this very room taking care of him, all right? You can still visit, as long as his condition doesn't get any worse," he added hurriedly as Joey looked downcast at the prospect of not being able to visit his next best pal.

"Come on, Joey, man," Tristan slung an arm around Joey's shoulder and wheeled him towards the door. "Let's go chow."

Joey's expression brightened immensely. " 'K! You got yourself a deal, man!" The two raced down the hall and the rest could hear them shoving each other against the wall, in a desperate attempt to reach the dining room first. 

"Ah well, could've been worse," Mai commented as she moved toward the door. "Catch you two later!" She winked and went out.

And nobody ever took notice of the glare Seto had sent Tristan when he slung his arm over Joey's shoulder as he too, exited the room to leave the two tri-coloured hair boy some peace and quiet.

~*~*~*~*~*~

DING-DONG...DING-DONG...DING-DONG...went the grandfather clock in the main hall. The rings echoed around the resort ten times, and the occupants currently in the gaming room knew instantly that they needed to pack up.

"Oi," Joey stretched as he suppressed a yawn. "I guess I'll be going now, you guys. 'Night." With a slow pace and a heavy heart, he made his way slowly up the stairs.

Seto stood up swiftly. "Good night to you all," he mumbled and hurried out of the room right after Joey.

~*~*~*~*~*~ ((Me: Whoo...it's time for some Seto/Joey action! ^-^))

Joey was just mounting the second staircase and was currently thinking: 'Man, how many stairs does this place have!?' when something, or rather, someone, grabbed him from behind and clapped a hand over his hand, silencing the scream that was about to erupt from his throat.

"Just where do you think you're going?" a rich, deep masculine voice whispered in his ear.

A delighted shiver ran down poor, frightened Joey's spine at the voice. That voice...he knows it...where had he heard it before...?

"Kaiba...?" Joey finally unstuck his throat as the hand removed itself from his mouth.

"Very good, mutt," Seto smirked. Even in the darkness Joey could still make out that evil mouth of his.

'Stop it,' he told himself and shook his head.

"Have you forgotten our deal, pup?" Seto murmured again into his ear.

"What deal?" Joey silently prayed that he sounded innocent.

"This morning...remember the duel?" Seto pressed on, face merely a few inches away from Joey's.

Joey's form started trembling. Kaiba didn't really mean it, did he!? 

"There's no way of escape, Joey," as if reading his thought. 

The blonde boy gulped as a malicious glint flared inside those two cold blue eyes. There was something he couldn't quite place that he saw in Kaiba's eyes - what was it?

His eyes widened as Seto closed the gap between them and enveloped his trembling lips. 

'God!'

'Ra!'

The blonde and brunette were stunned at the feel of each other. Just the feel of lips was enough to send Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp., over the edge.

"Come on," he said lustfully. "We're continuing this in the bedroom." He pulled Joey to his feet and the two stumbled on the steps.

~*~*~*~*~*~

However, things weren't going as smooth as you would have guessed at the nurse infirmary. Bakura had been unconscious for a minimum of six hours. Ryou stayed by his bedside, eyes not leaving his yami's pale face. Malik and Marik had stayed quietly in the corner, every while exchanging a nervous glance with each other.

Only when it was dinner did Ryou allow Malik and Marik to leave to get something to eat. Malik and Marik, not wanting to provoke Ryou's anger any longer, scurried back to the room as soon as they had finished. Finally, Ryou stood up and heaved a big sigh.

"Look guys, this isn't right...just go."

Malik was taken aback. "But Ryou..."

"Listen, it isn't right for me to keep you here. It's not like it'll help Bakura wake up or anything. You can leave anytime you want.

"No, Ryou, listen to us..."

Ryou shook his head furiously. "NO! Leave!"

((Me: O__o Wow...he's really mad, isn't he?  
Yami Strawberry: *snorts* Anyone can tell...maybe except you...^^))

"Let's go," Malik said softly and tugged at his yami's shirt. "Ryou can be really scary if he wants to..."

Marik turned around and stalked out of the room. Malik sighed. 'What am I to do with you?'

==Oh, I can think of a few things...==

Malik blushed slightly when the message drifted across their mind link. =Hey! You were invading my privacy!=

Marik grabbed his arm and hauled him up the stairs. "You heard what Ryou said...leave...and take it somewhere else..." he grinned evilly and Malik got the drift. 

He fidgeted a bit. "Err...hate to ruin your mood, but we don't exactly have a room."

"Who cares? We'll get ourselves one."

Another grin.

"Let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Bakura...wake up..." Ryou pleaded even though he knew that his yami couldn't hear him. "Please...I can't live without you..."

Still no response.

Ryou placed a gentle kiss on Bakura's forehead. "Hope you can hear me say this: Aishiteru...Baku-chan." And he fell asleep with his head near the crook of Bakura's neck.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yami was contently asleep. He was in a deep dreamless slumber. Until he heard distant music coming from somewhere in the far corner of his - correction, their (referring to him AND Yugi) - room. His dry eyes were forced to open, and he rubbed the sleep off of them with his left hand. 

'What in the name of Ra?'

Sweet, gentle melodies were coming from some shape at the end of their room. Something...black. He lifted the blankets carefully as not to disturb the person who was currently playing the instrument, and on his bare feet, treaded cautiously to the source of sound.

As soon as he was within hearing distance of the person, the music immediately stopped. Drooping violet eyes peered up at him in a mix of astonishment, curiousity, and alarm from behind those soft yellow bangs.

"Yami! You shouldn't be out of bed! Your fever still hasn't passed yet!"

Yami let a smile graced his lips. "I'll be fine, hikari."

"Well, if you're positive..." he sounded doubtful.

Hastily changing the subject, Yami injected a question. "What was that song you were playing?"

"Oh? Did I wake you?"

"Iie. The music just kind of drifted into my mind and it was so pretty I thought I should know who played it." 'Of course, knowing that it's Yugi just makes it about a zillion times better.'

"Beethoven's 'Sonate Pathétique'. Second movement."

((Me: That was the first thing that popped into my mind since I was practising that before I came down to type.))

"It was really good," Yami praised him.

Yugi blushed and looked at the black and white keys of the piano. "Arigato," he said quietly.

"Know another one?"

Yugi wordlessly turned back to the piano and thought a moment. Then fluently let his fingers land on the keys and melodies entertwined with each other. 

/It's called 'Nocturne in B-flat minor' by Chopin, in case you were wondering./

Yami nodded absent-mindedly while he moved soundlessly. Yugi's heartbeat quickened as Yami's body heat moved closer and closer to him.

The long slender arms snaked its way around the slim waist. Yugi's face now resembled a ripe tomato. 

'Yikes...'

"Keep playing," Yami purred into Yugi's ear.

Yugi shivered. His ear was one of his most sensitive spots. 

A few minutes later, the song ended. Yugi turned around slowly to see Yami's head drooping.

"Yami?"

But his darkness had already fallen asleep.

~ To be Continued ~

Authoress' Notes:

Princess Strawberry: Heh, looks like I inserted some more talents into Yugi-chan! ^o^ Heehee...

Yami Strawberry: You're spoiling him too much...

Princess Strawberry: Who cares!? Yugi's too cute...*pinches his face like an aunt would* Aren't you?

Yugi: -___- Help...I am NOT a puppet!

Princess Strawberry: ^^ Anyway, a big thanks to my math teacher, who gave me the idea for this chapter's Seto/Jou fluff moment. Arigato! (Even though she doesn't read my stories...^^;)

Yami: Ano...tell us in your review, or e-mail us, about what we should update next...OTHER than "Feeling Sporty?". Hope that didn't spoil your hopes too too much. *snickers*

Yugi: Read and review, minna-san! ~^__^~ *bows* Be a good audience! 


	8. Chapter 8: Visiting and Understanding

**UPDATED **in honour of _Akuma Malick:Queen of Typos_ (whose birthday is in July!)!

Princess Strawberry: Thanks to all who helped me achieve 177 reviews! And in case you haven't been dropping by to my bio, I'm going to say it again: I'm now thanking everyone whom had put me on their "Favourite Authors" in my bio, because I always lose track of whoever I thank in my story chapters! --;; All right, lose the disappointed faces; think on the bright side! I'm thanking you for review numbers, right?

Yami Strawberry: You know _how_ many people have told you to update this story? Yeah, you know who you are. . Don't pretend to be innocent.

Princess Strawberry: Kouichi (as that is her name in the "Feeling Sporty?" anyway), be nice. They were only trying to…help me update. Yeah, that's right.

Ko-chan pops up You know how I feel now?

Princess Strawberry: Yes, sorry! And yup, onwards to (gasp) CHAPTER 8!! tears of happiness Wow…I can't believe it; it's already chapter eight! Time flies when you write quickly…

Yami Strawberry: coughs You don't _update_ fast. Anyhow, my hikari does NOT own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ no matter how many times she whines and complains that she does. She does not own any characters from it, or from any other animé she may be using. And she does not own _Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort_, which she has been going to skiing for the past three years. O.o Wait, you didn't need to know that. shrugs Oh well, you heard it, and yes. The only thing she _actually_ owns is the plot of this. o.o Not that it's very original. walks out of the room calmly

Princess Strawberry: seethes

**Keys**: "Speaking", 'Thinking', /Hikari speaking to his respective yami telepathically/, A/N: Silly little comments that I just feel I should insert

__

Ski Trip

Chapter 8: Visiting and Understanding

Gentle sunrays filtered through the curtains and hit Yami directly in the face. Eyes blinking slowly, he woke up, feeling some sort of heat next to him. The moment he saw what was beside him, he felt all the blood rush to his face.

Yugi, his darling hikari Yugi, was sleeping beside him.

It was like his dream come true. Yugi was _actually _willingly sleeping right next to him! Yami forced his brain into gear. The last thing he remembered was hugging his aibou when he was playing on the piano. Then the world had gone black. And he had remembered no more.

Something shifted beside him. Yami quickly turned his head to see Yugi turn in his sleep. His face was so adorable; not that it isn't cute even when he's awake. Yami smiled, Yugi always has the magic to make him do that. Not wanting to interrupt his peaceful slumber, Yami cautiously got out of bed. Noting the previous day where he had "accidentally" knocked on the bathroom door, he pushed the exact same spot again, and the door creaked open. Yami winced. He had forgotten about that; and hoping against hope he wished that Yugi didn't wake up.

How wrong he was.

"Yami-chan?" Yugi's sleepy voice drifted across the room, and reached Yami's ears. "Where are you?"

Yami froze at the name that flowed from his aibou's mouth. Finally, he collected his wits and answered as calmly as he could. /Bathroom, aibou./

/Oh, okay./ But the fact didn't embed itself to his memory.

Five minutes later, when Yami still didn't make his reappearance, Yugi got out of bed and made his way sluggishly to the bathroom, still not fully awake. When he reached the door, he did not come into contact with a wooden door like he expected. Instead, his face met warmth. It seemed like his heart had stopped beating; the blood all flowed to his face, heating it so much that it's like a fireplace.

"Y-yam..i?" Yugi stuttered, stumbling back a few steps.

"Aibou?" Yami was equally surprised. Hadn't he told his hikari that he would be in the bathroom?

But oh yeah. That was fifteen minutes ago. That's how long it took him to gel up his hair too. Yami glanced at his hikari's blood-red face. "What's wrong, aibou?"

Yugi shook his head. "Oh nothing," Trying to force down his blush.

"Alright…" Yami said dubiously, walking out.

Yugi yawned again. "Aibou, why don't you go get some more sleep?"

Again, the petit boy shook his head, this time so violently that his blond bangs waved. "Iie! You're sick, Yami, and I need to take care of you!"

"I'm feeling better, aibou," Yami tried to pout, and failed miserably.

Yugi giggled despite of himself. "Oh you silly, everyone who is ill would say they are _not_ sick! But that is beside the point – right now you need to rest, and no buts!"

Yami grumbled. "Oh all right…" He dragged his feet across the room and flopped down on the bed ungracefully.

"Don't you dare go anywhere while I'm gone," Yugi warned, walking into the bathroom.

"Yes, doctor."

Merry laughter rang out, but was soon cut from the _snap_ of the door.

-----

"Hey, Yug'!" Joey waved energetically as Yugi made his way through the dining room. "How's Yami?"

"Oh, he's feeling better," Yugi smiled, sitting down.

Téa's eyes lit up. "REALLY?"

Yugi winced. "Hai."

Téa jumped from her chair. "I'm going to see him." And with that, she left the table in the direction of the infirmary.

The rest stared at her. "…I take it she never found out that Yami is safe in your room?" They asked simultaneously.

Yugi grinned. "Nope!"

"Well, at least he'll be safe…" Tristan sighed.

"Oh?"

"Ryou. He's still in the hospital wing, looking after Bakura."

Yugi's eyes widened. "Bakura still hasn't woken up yet?"

Six heads all shook together.

Seven collective sighs arose from the table.

And this was supposed to be a _fun_ week.

-----

Dispirited, they trudged out of the dining room, after Keiko shooed them out.

"You're all young, enjoy the outdoors! Trust me, you'll thank me later!"

All eight of them scowled; evidently their teacher had no idea that when two of your best buddies are injured and sick in bed can be such a let down.

Yugi was the most disheartened of all. Since he was the most caring friend of all, it was natural for him to feel so depressed. First his beloved yami came down with a fever. Next his good friend Ryou had himself worried sick over Bakura's fractured shoulder. Now his anxieties to get the "possible couples" together multiplied.

Can this week get any worse?

"Guys, you know what, I'm going back to my room."

The others started. "Why?"

"I don't know…I guess I'm not feeling quite up to it, with Yami sick and everything."

Joey was the first the fully understand how Yugi felt. He patted him on the shoulder encouragingly. Squatting down, he put his lips next to Yugi's ear and whispered, "Go for it, Yug'. I know that Yami will return your feelings." Straightening up, he winked and headed out the door.

Yugi blushed slightly and waved goodbye.

The others, momentarily confused, shook themselves out of the stupor and followed Joey outside.

'Well…at least _they_ are having fun.' Yugi thought, turning around with a grim face, and ambled off to the hospital wing.

-----

"Ryou?" Yugi peered around the door.

He spotted him sleeping on Bakura's bed.

"Aww…" Yugi tiptoed towards them and tapped him gently on the shoulder. "Ryou?"

Ryou jolted awake, staring wildly around. "Oh, it's you, Yugi…" His hand automatically moved to his mouth to cover his yawn. "What is it?"

"I brought you some breakfast," Yugi held out a bag that contained a few pancakes, a little bottle of syrup, and some orange juice.

A warm smile graced his lips as his hand reached for the bag. "How thoughtful, Yugi. Arigato!"

"No problem."

Ryou placed the bag on the nightstand. His eyes wandered back towards Bakura's face. "Oh, Kura…"

"You really miss him, don't you, Ryou?" Yugi murmured.

A single tear glistened on Ryou's eyelashes. "Of course…he's the next best thing that has ever happened in my life. The best thing was definitely having all of you as my friends," he managed another sad smile. "And, oh Kura…" He bent over to hug his yami slightly around the middle. Unfortunately, the sheets got in the way, so a small ruffling noise sounded.

"Do you know when he'll wake, Yugi?"

An apologetic smile accompanied a disappointing response. "No, I'm sorry, Ryou…"

"That's all right…it's just that every hour I look up, and hoped that I could see his malicious brown eyes again…and then swarmed with love for me…" He sighed again. "When will I see this miracle happen?"

"Believe, Ryou, and you'll come through. And so will Bakura."

For the first time, a truly happy smile adorned Ryou's face. "Thanks. By far, your visit has helped me the most."

-----

His visit to Ryou was not the most cheerful, but nevertheless he was touched by Ryou's devotion to Bakura. It was a very smart match, even Yugi had to admit.

And even with the case of Seto and Joey…they had worked it out already.

A bitter smile replaced itself with the normally cheerful one. 'Yami…Why can't I just say it? Am I really such a coward to not have the courage to say three simple words?'

Without noticing, he was outside of their room. Yugi pushed open the door slowly, and his feet felt like lead. He dragged himself inside, closed the door softly, and locked it, to prevent any interruptions.

He took a deep breath. 'Well, it's now or never.'

Yugi treaded his path to the bed carefully to not wake up Yami. Successful, he crawled on to the bed as well, settling down quietly.

Yami heaved a small grunt, and shifted his position – his face was now facing Yugi.

'Good, he's still asleep.'

Yugi raised his hand and brushed the blond bangs that had fallen on to Yami's slightly reddened and warm face. Evidently his fever hasn't improved that much. Yami's eyes were still closed, chest rising and falling gently in the rhythm of breathing. Yugi found himself captivated by the movements.

'Oh Gods…'

Yugi placed a hand over his heart, trying to restore peace within him. 'Must…resist…until the right moment…'

Yugi observed the sleeping form before him again. Yami's mouth was slightly opened for breathing. Yugi found the posture very appealing. His hand slowly migrated to Yami's face, cautiously moving the damp yellow bangs that clung to his flushed face. His nose wrinkled up at the disturbance, but nonetheless his eyes remained shut.

Yugi crawled on to the bed and squatted down next to him. Yami was even more beautiful up close.

The blankets shifted yet again, and Yugi was frantically thinking of an excuse as to why he was this close to his guardian when all of a sudden –

"Bleh…Yugi? Is that you?" Yami asked sleepily.

"Hai." Yugi managed a small smile in greeting.

His darker half struggled to get up from the bed. Yugi instantly moved and helped him sit up, his back propped up by pillows.

/Arigatou, aibou./

Another smile came his way. "Douitashimashite, mou hitori no boku." 

Yami nodded gratefully. "So…why aren't you out there with the others?"

"Oh…well, I figured I'd better stay behind and see how you're doing."

"Ah…"

A painful moment of silence stilled the room. Each waited for the other to begin speaking, but neither of them did.

Yami shifted a bit more into a comfortable position. His face contorted slightly when he still couldn't get into that cozy condition he wished for.

'Grr…I hate this…'

"Yami?"

The darkness blinked. And blinked again. "Hai, aibou?"

"You don't look so good. Are you sure you don't need to see the doctor again?"

Yami waved his hand in an uncaring manner. "I'm fine, Yugi, stop fussing."

"Oh." Hurt filtered through the violet irises and tears threatened to fall. Unknown to Yami, that sentence had a huge effect on him. For the worse.

"Ne, Yugi, _you_ don't look so good now. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Yugi quickly averted his eyes, hiding back the wounded heart.

A growling noise issued from the bed. Yami blushed, adding to the colour on his face. Yugi giggled at Yami's reaction to the noise.

"Hungry?"

"Hai." Yami blushed deeper.

"Let's sneak you out to get a snack. You must be starved…you haven't had anything to eat from yesterday night until now!"

"If Joey was me, he'd probably be complaining from this morning all ready." Yami laughed.

"True, true…Come on, less talking, more moving! The kitchen awaits!" Yugi marched towards the door. "Yami, hurry up!"

Yami sweatdropped. "Uh, aibou, a little help, please?"

Yugi looked back to see Yami struggling to get out of the bed. "Oh, sorry!" A slight flush tinted his cheeks as he glowed in embarrassment. "I forgot that when a person is sick, they need more help than usual…you aren't used to it, are you?"

"I will eventually. Anyway, I'm hungry," Yami whined.

Yugi smiled. "Don't worry, as long as no one stops us in the hallway, you'll get your food in ten minutes."

- _To be Continued_ -

Princess Strawberry: Well! Fluff? Everyone agree? FLUFF!? (By the way, that was to make up the _REALLY_ late update. Hope you guys are filled with a warm bubbly feeling after all that YYxY fluff!)

…

Good. =D

Oh yeah, sorry the ending was so lame, I sort of ran out of ideas to wrap this chapter out. Lame chapter, ne? sigh And don't worry, Bakura will wake up. Soon. XP

Now be so kind to **review** this chapter, so it can persuade me to update another story, or write a new one with more fluff! Yay! XD So, onegai? Review, ne? Arigatou!

_**P.S.**_ If you want to join my e-mailing list (and you don't have a fanfiction .net account), just say so in your review so you can be contacted when I update! If you DO have a fanfiction .net account, add me to your _Author Alerts List_ so I don't have to send you an e-mail every time to let you know I updated! Huzzah! Thanks for listening!


	9. Chapter 9: Get Well Soon

Princess Strawberry:… x.x Ehehe, yes, I do indeed live, but seeing how as I've sort of – _fallen _out of the Yuugiou fandom for a while, it's quite hard to get back on track and get stuff flowing. I'm going to try writing this following my previously written style, but my writing right now has fallen out of shape, so you might notice a change in my descriptions and/or dialogue. Please bear with me? XD

Yami Strawberry: Don't worry, I'll pound her head in for making you guys wait for so long!

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Yuugiou, stop bothering me! DX

**Keys**: "Speaking", 'Thinking'/telepathic dialogue between hikari and respective yami, and vice versa/

And now, without further ado, I bring forth chapter 9 of Ski Trip!

_Ski Trip_

Chapter 9: Get Well Soon

Two more days passed and Yami's fever has subsided, only a slight cough and the occasional sneeze lingering to bug him. However, he was still confined to his room until Yugi deemed him to be completely healthy. There was no need to spread the virus around, and Yami appreciated his Light's concern for everyone else.

Yugi was delighted that he did not need to play the role of "nurse" and "doctor" that much anymore – although he had to admit to himself he _was_ a bit disappointed – yet at the same time he could not stop but worry about Bakura.

The "spirit" of the Millennium Ring was still unconscious in the hospital wing; Ryou has skipped two meals out of the regular three per day just to stay by his yami's side. He was thin, but now he was even thinner. And his face was considerably paler as well.

Needless to say Yugi was worried sick over his friends' conditions.

And his concern did not help Yami's situation either.

Luckily, nothing else more damaging happened during the two-day period. Kaiba and Joey have managed to keep their kicked-up-a-notch relationship a secret, still shooting playful insults and remarks to each other while in front of the others. Malik and Marik have gotten a room without a huge fuss – or any casualties, for that matter. Mai and Duke have settled to be friendlier, perhaps even closer as they often went on the slopes together, having lots of time to talk about things. Tristan seemed to have given up on complaining how cruel fate was to him and instead opted for the option of remaining silent whenever he was in his room. His facial expression only brightened when he was at the dining room, on the slopes; just anywhere but his room.

And Téa? Whenever she was not skiing nor eating, she sat in her room, pining, or wandered around the resort, trying to locate Yami. Obviously she has not bothered to check their rooms.

By the evening of the fifth day, Yami could join them at the dining table. To his immense relief, Téa was not present. He took the opportunity to steal the seat next to Yugi. He received a small smile in return. It was enough to make him happy. He knew what was bothering his light.

Malik and Marik were a little down the table, bickering yet again. Yami cracked a smile. They are nice people after all, maybe psychotic at times, but nice.

Being sick really had its disadvantages, he noticed. He had not been filled in about the bet between Kaiba and Joey, but Yami was quick to notice how while the two insulted each other, it only sounded half-hearted, and maybe contained a double entendre. He smirked. 'About time those two got a move on.'

His inner self kicked him hard in the shins and reprimanded him. '_What about yourself, hypocrite?_'

'Soon, I swear.'

His inner self snorted and rolled his eyes. '_Right, I've already heard that LOADS of times. Honestly Yami. Get a grip. Say it, or else it's just going to get worse._'

'I know, I know, but what if - '

'_Ra, stop it with your "what if"'s! Haven't we talked about this for the past two days?_'

'I know we have, but it doesn't stop me from worrying…'

He felt exasperation from himself. '_Forget it. I've said all I can and you still seem so unconvinced. Take my word or leave it. All I'm saying is that things will be better if you just come forward, stupid._'

He felt miffed and mentally made a face at being called "stupid", and deciding that he's had enough chit-chat anyway he shut out his conscience's voice for the remaining of the day. His advice rang in his head though: _just come forward, stupid_.

Yami sighed. If only it was that simple…

Yugi noticed his sigh and titled his head to search for signs of further illness on his face. His darker half noticed his alarm and quickly offered a smile, shaking his head in reassurance. "Not sick, just wondering how Bakura and Ryou are doing, that's all."

A look of relief passed through their mind link and on Yugi's face before something else registered.

"Hey, since we're basically done dinner, want to visit Ryou and Bakura?" Yugi asked the table in general.

Everyone nodded, wanting to check if their friend's medical condition has gotten any better.

"Great, I'll get some food in case Ryou wants some." Yugi disappeared into the kitchen.

Joey looked after his small friend. "I don't know why Yug' bothers, Ryou's already rejected dinner for the third time."

Kaiba spoke before Yami got a chance to defend his own Light. "There's no harm in trying. At least Yugi is caring in this aspect, not like you."

The blond glared at him and mentally made a note to get back at him tonight.

Yugi came back with a big dish of salad, Dijon chicken, and some penne pasta, plastered with tomato sauce. "I already told Keiko-san that I won't be able to help her tonight, so c'mon, let's go."

"Here, I'll hold it," Joey offered. Yugi smiled gratefully and handed the plate over.

Kaiba took the chance to tease him. "I don't know, Yugi, I don't think you should trust him with so much food."

"Hey, I'm RELIABLE!"

The group chuckled and made their way to the hospital wing, laughter dying away with each step as they neared the room. They knocked on the door but received no response.

"Ryou, are you in there? It's Yugi!" Yugi called, knocking again.

The door opened a crack and a chocolate-coloured eye peered out. Yugi was shocked to see it look so sad, dull, downcast, lifeless, _soulless_…

He never thought that a single eye could hold so much emotion and say so much in just one stare.

"Ryou, are you okay?"

He did not say anything, but only stepped away from the door. Yugi took it as an OK-signal to go into the room. The rest followed silently, uncertain of what to say to console the suffering youth.

Joey broke the silence. "Here, we brought you something in case you got hungry."

Ryou smiled weakly but shook his head. "Thanks, I'm not that hungry though."

"But you need to eat _something_!" Tristan said.

Mai and Duke both exclaimed at the same time, "You've gotten so pale!" They looked at each other and quickly looked away again.

"Please, Ryou, it hurts us to see you like this," Yugi pleaded softly. Yami placed his hands on his shoulders and gripped lightly, feeling them starting to shudder.

"That's right, Ryou, you need your strength; I think Bakura wouldn't want to see you like this," Yami said tightly.

Ryou blinked at Yami, not quite believing his ears. For the first time since a long time ago, Yami called his darker half by "Bakura", not "tomb robber". It was a good change.

"All right, I'll eat some."

A half-strangled cheer rang out and Ryou's eyes got a little misty. 'I'm lucky to have such supporting friends… Kura, wake up, share this with me…'

_Knock__, knock_.

Duke, being closest to the door, opened it. Keiko walked in.

"Konbanwa, Keiko-san," they chorused.

She reciprocated their greeting and walked towards Ryou, placing her hand delicately on his arm. "Has he moved?"

"No, he's still unconscious," Ryou put down his fork and stopped himself from quivering. "…Keiko-san, what if he never wakes up?"

"Don't say that, Ryou. He _will_ wake up. I know he is strong and he _will_ pull through." She gathered Ryou in a motherly hug, offering as much sympathy and care as she possibly can in such a small action.

The others looked on wordlessly as Ryou sniffled into Keiko's shoulder, absorbing her words and willing himself to believe her. Malik and Marik shuffled guiltily at the back of the group, with as little noise as they could manage.

Keiko ruffled his white hair affectionately and stood up. "For now, it's your duty to finish that plate, stay healthy so you don't give Bakura a scare when he opens his eyes. I'll have you know that the garbage cans won't be accepting anymore rejected material like the previous three days." She said sternly, eyes twinkling in good nature.

Ryou nodded.

She turned to the rest of them. "And as for the rest of you, you should be going back to your room. Lights out in half an hour."

"Yes ma'am!" They mock saluted her.

She laughed, ruffled Yugi's hair on her way out too, and gently closed the door.

Yugi went up to Ryou and hugged him as well. "I guess we need to go, or else we'll need to grope in the dark for our rooms."

Ryou gave a weak giggle and nodded again. "You're right, she's right, the rest of you are right. I'll finish this plate tonight, I promise. Now go to bed." He tried to imitate the stern voice of their teacher.

The rest of them chuckled and proceeded out the door. Yugi was the last one to leave, and before he stepped out, he was stopped by Ryou's voice. "Oh, and Yugi?"

"Yes, Ryou?"

"Could you bring a slightly bigger portion of breakfast for me tomorrow?"

Yugi beamed at the turn in his friend's behaviour. "Definitely! Oyasumi nasai, Ryou!"

"Oyasumi nasai!"

The door closed. Ryou picked up his plate and walked towards the window. The stars glimmered outside, some of their light reflecting off the snow. He chewed thoughtfully on his chicken.

He heaved a sigh after he was through with his late-dinner, made himself comfortable on the chair beside the bed, and looked sadly at his darker half, who was still motionless.

Ryou closed his eyes and whispered, "Oyasumi nasai, Kura…"

He failed to notice a twitch of fingers before he slipped into his own sleep.

_- To be Continued -_

Princess Strawberry: So what do we have here? A not-very-sick Yami, a worried Yugi, guilty Egyptians, and Bakura _still_ in the hospital wing. (_cringes_) I SWEAR Bakura won't die, HONEST!

Yami Strawberry: I hope you have your will and deathbed ready, I don't think they're very happy with Bakura out of action for so many chapters…

Princess Strawberry: Quite honestly, you're not helping, Kouichi. -.- There's about one or two chapters left of this story, and I _do_ hope I finish soon so you guys aren't left at another cliffhanger. XD I know, evil of me, but really. :P

**Read and review**, please, even though I know it's been ages since you last read chapter 8. XD


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